Fire & Rain
by itabitaboo
Summary: Moving away to college together seemed like a good idea to begin with but the long friendship between Naruto and Sasuke is soon faced with many new challenges. New people and emotions threaten to destroy the pair. Can they survive these new developments in their lives? Yaoi is present. Consider yourself warned.
1. Chapter 1: Anguish

**Disclaimer:** Naruto is not mine and neither is Sasuke... but a girl can dream, can't she?

**Warnings for this fic:  
**—Very vague death ensues _this_ chapter. If you don't like vague or death, be warned.**  
**—This chapter is yaoi free but later chapters will squeeze lemon juice right into your eye.  
—Serious smut smut in the butt butt will come out to play.  
—Vague allusions to rape. I won't detail that sort of thing, though.  
—Physical abuse and torture of sorts. Again, not detailed because I'm not sadistic. Well, maybe I am just a little bit.  
**These are things that I _will not_ reiterate every chapter. Expect them regularly.**  
—Profanity, violence, & nudity, of course. That would explain the M rating xD  
—Blood and more not so vague death.

* * *

**Chapter One: Anguish**

He was positive that he must be dead now. He wasn't sure what kind of post-death experience that this was, though. He didn't hear the car tires halt to a screech or the people within the car shouting threatening warnings at his friend. His ears were ringing so loudly that it was splitting his head in two but, piercing through the madness, he heard the words "I love you". He heard them loud and clear cutting through the white noise and he recognized the voice that had spoken them so softly. He couldn't see anything except blackness but he could picture the face of his lover and it seemed to ease the pain throbbing in his head. A sudden flourish of fire raged throughout his body, emanating from what he guessed to be his cheek. He really didn't know. Was this normal upon dying? Was this even a post-death experience? Was he even dead?

He imagined himself responding. He imagined himself say the words "I love you, too". If only he was alive and able enough to comfort his lover with such words. If only he could reanimate his body and wrap his companion in his arms again. He suddenly felt the pressure of sobbing in what he was sure was his chest. His chest? Other body parts started to send signals to his brain. He could locate a leg and then an arm. He heard the familiar voice speak his name and he knew he couldn't be dead, not yet. Maybe he could choke the words out one last time before his body _did_ fail him. He sent positive thoughts to his arm and willed it to lift. He didn't know whether it was moving or not until he felt the familiar sensation of the skin on his lover's neck surge through his newly located fingers. He was definitely alive, at least for the moment, and maybe he could actually speak.

"I…" he imagined himself saying. _Repeat once more for good measure_, he told himself. "I…" _Next word._ "love…' That signal didn't seem to get through too well. Better send it again. "l-l-love…" He could feel his lips. Now, he was sure he could get the words out. "Y-Y-Y…" he could feel himself stammering. _Come on, you can do it. You **have** to do it._

His companion's voice cut through the white noise again, which had ebbed significantly into a dull roar. "I know… I already know…" He hoped that his ears had betrayed him as they conveyed a crack in his partner's smooth voice with that last word. It pained him to hear his companion crying. _No,_ he thought. _No, don't cry. I'm alive. It's okay_. If he kept saying the words in his head, then he was sure they would find their way to his lips and then, surely, to the ears that he so ached to comfort.

The white noise began fading slowly into silence. The throbbing in his head began dulling peacefully. The darkness grew heavier and heavier upon him. _It's okay. I'm alive. It's okay. I'm alive. It's okay._ A biting chill started pressing him deeper and deeper into himself. It felt like a black hole had opened up inside of him and was sucking his essence away little pieces at a time but he willed himself to keep on. _I'm alive. It's okay. I'm alive. It's okay. I'm alive._ He couldn't tell if his message was making it out to his friend. He couldn't tell if his message was even making it to the rest of himself. He had lost contact with his body but he refused to give up. _It's okay. I'm alive._ The vortex was pulling him in deeper and he could do nothing to fight it. He was helpless, nearly hopeless but the image of his lover's face pushed him forward. _It's okay. I'm… I'm alive._ The words echoed out meekly into nothingness. Now, he was sure of it. He was dead.

* * *

The blond snapped upright, awakening abruptly from his unnerving dream. He gasped for air and his lungs felt as if they were on fire, begging for oxygen. He took a few steadying breaths with his hand clutched to his chest. He wiped his other shaking hand across his forehead to keep the cold sweat from dripping into his eyes. Once his head stopped spinning, he turned it slowly to his left to rest his gaze upon his still sleeping companion. _Good, I didn't wake him,_ he thought, releasing a relieved sigh. He had woken Sasuke up with this nightmare every night for the past two weeks and Sasuke was very annoyed about that. His partner tried to cover his annoyance up with forced compassion but Naruto could see right through it. Sasuke wasn't very compassionate to begin with. Add waking him up in the middle of every night, slapping wildly around the sheets and stammering unintelligibly to the equation and you have one very deeply annoyed Uchiha. Thus, Naruto found great relief in the serene face of his sleeping friend. _Safe__… _for now. He laid back, careful not to wake his friend, and stared up at the ceiling in thought.

Sasuke would be undoubtedly curious about Naruto's long overdue restful sleep and, seeing as Naruto was a very bad liar most of the time, Naruto wouldn't be able to hide the fact that he didn't sleep well at all. On a full night's sleep Sasuke would likely be genuinely compassionate. He often acted out of character with the blond. They shared a special relationship. Sasuke's genuine concern would mean that Naruto would have to tell him about the nightmare again and then Sasuke would drone impossibly on about how Naruto needed to seek help for this nightmare and how unhealthy it was to let it go on like this. Sasuke truly was kind and caring toward the blond when it came to serious subjects like this. That was, of course, more toward the middle of the day when he wasn't so mad about being woken so violently from his sleep. But since Naruto had managed to wake much less violently tonight than normal, Sasuke would get his full night of sleep and would wake much more pleasant than normal. Therefore, he would be kind and caring at breakfast which meant that Naruto had_…_ Naruto looked at the clock, four a.m._…_ Naruto had approximately four more hours to go until his raven-haired friend bombarded him with that stupid speech.

"Better get some sleep," he whispered to himself. Breakfast was going to be dreadful. Naruto didn't want to seek help. Why couldn't Sasuke see that? He would be fine! He wasn't a pansy little school girl who couldn't handle a stupid bad dream. I mean, seriously! Plus, Naruto felt like the nightmare was something more. It wasn't just a dream. It felt like real life. It felt like it had happened or, more terrifyingly, had yet to happen. No therapist could explain to Naruto why he suddenly felt like a psychic who was having premonitions about someone's terrible death. Naruto sighed. He knew he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. He looked back over to his companion to study the look of contentedness on his face. Sasuke was actually smiling. What kind of dream could he be having? He sighed again. _If only I could just sleep like Sasuke. That would be nice._ He let loose another well-deserved sigh.


	2. Chapter 2: Mercy

**A/N:** There is a floor plan of their apartment at the bottom of this chapter.

**Warning:** A tid bit of yaoi. Just a tid bit in the form of a kiss, really a peck. Read in peace.

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**Chapter Two: Mercy**

"Hey…"

_If only there was some way to be sure,_ Naruto thought to himself.

"Hey…"

_There __**has**__ to be a test or something out there somewhere, right?_

"Naruto…"

_Or better! Other psychics to talk to! Hmmm, _he thought. _Maybe there's some sort of secret society. Maybe something easier to find, like a website. Yeah! _"A website," he mused out loud without realizing he had let his thoughts slip into words.

"What?"

"Huh?" Naruto responded, emerging from his conversation with himself and looking up at. Sasuke was staring at Naruto, a look of confusion twisting about his eye brows.

"What website?" Sasuke asked, the look of confusion settling deeper into his features.

_Did I say that out loud?_ "Oh, hah, it's nothing." He took notice of the pale boy before him, fully dressed for class and sitting directly across the kitchen table from him. He then noticed the empty plate in front of the boy and then moved his gaze in front of himself to discover a bowl of ramen sitting there. He grinned widely. "I'm starving!"

"Really?" Sasuke half-laughed. "Cause that bowl has been sitting in front of you for, at least, two complete minutes. That's twice the time it normally takes you to inhale it."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and dug in. Sasuke leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. The blond was ruining his 'I finally got an entire night of uninterrupted sleep' high. "Are you going to tell me what this website is?" he asked, a tone of annoyance just barely beginning to rise.

"Huh?" Naruto glanced up from his ramen momentarily and answered with a full mouth, "I told you. It's nothing."

Sasuke threw his hands into the air in a gesture of frustration. "Then why did you answer my question with it?"

Thoroughly confused, Naruto sat upright and swallowed his mouthful of ramen. "Huh? What question?"

Sasuke sat forward and leaned his elbows on the table top. His face now sporting impatience, he spoke to Naruto as if speaking to a child. "Since you didn't wake me up last night, I asked you about your dream. You know, that thing that happens when we close our eyes?" Naruto stared blankly back at Sasuke who rolled his eyes dramatically. "You just stared at me and then finally said, 'a website'."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Ummm," he drawled out, clearly not recalling any of this.

"Really?" Sasuke questioned. "I woke up and you were just sitting here at the table in your boxers staring at nothing, so I made breakfast. Then, I ate breakfast and you just kept staring down. I figured you just needed ramen. That always snaps you out of it. Then, I watched you stare at the ramen for a while before asking you about your dream. You just kept staring until you said something about a website. Thus,"—Sasuke threw out a grand gesture to the kitchen they were sitting in—"here we are."

Naruto cleared his throat. "Oh," he laughed nervously. "Well, I don't remember any of that." He rubbed the back of his head. "My night was fine. The website is nothing."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "You're a shitty liar." Naruto visibly squirmed beneath the pale boy's scrutinizing glare. It was practically crushing him. Naruto started feeling very uneasy, as if Sasuke could see right through him. Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose while letting his shoulders slump under the weight of defeat. "Naruto," he almost whined. "You can't keep letting this go on."

Naruto rolled his own eyes and interrupted before Sasuke could get too deep into his speech. "I know, Sasuke. You say it every day."

"Do I?" Sasuke asked rhetorically, raising his voice. "Could that be because you wake me up every goddamn day?"

Naruto slit his eyes into a glare. Did Sasuke think Naruto didn't know? Did he think Naruto didn't feel bad about that? What was he supposed to do, sleep on the couch? This was _their_ apartment. Sasuke was the one who offered to _share_ his bed with Naruto when they first moved in to the apartment in their sophomore year so that Naruto could sell his own bed to help buy himself a car. Sasuke also offered to just buy Naruto a car but that would just be too humiliating. He wanted to buy it himself. Really, it was _Sasuke's_ fault he kept getting woken up.

Finally, Naruto spoke. "Well, fine! Give your stupid speech but I've heard it over a million times and I practically have it memorized by now. It's just annoying at this point."

"Yeah? So are you," Sasuke retorted, letting his own eyes match Naruto's glare. The boys stared at each other for a long moment before Sasuke broke. His words came out softer this time. "I'm sorry, Naru. I'm just tired of this shit and I want you to be rid of this stupid dream." He was now pleading with the blond. "Just, please, get some help. I want you back to normal." He reached his hand out to gently touch Naruto's.

Naruto retracted his hand and gave Sasuke a snort. "Well, I'm not normal, Sasuke. Tough fucking luck for you. I hate to be a burden." He let that last statement fill with venom as it shot past his lips. He knew Sasuke didn't mean it like that, though. Sasuke was just exhausted and concerned. Why was Naruto mad about that?

"What?" Sasuke exclaimed with confusion in his voice. "Naruto, you _are_ normal."

"No," Naruto responded, "I'm not!"

Sasuke released a deep sigh. "N-Naruto… if this is about…" He paused to gather his nerves. This was a tough subject and he knew it. "If this is about your family…"

"What!"

"Cause I thought we were past that," Sasuke continued as if Naruto hadn't reacted with such shock.

"Oh my god, Sasuke. No! It's nothing to do with that," said Naruto.

Sasuke sat back in his chair. He replaced his 'concerned friend' routine with his more typical 'disturbed prick' routine. "Then what, dobe!?"

His family was the only thing Sasuke could think that would make Naruto feel abnormal. Naruto's mother had died giving birth and his father died shortly after of literal 'heart break'. The grief was too stressful for the man to handle. Naruto was a child so he didn't remember it. That was just what he had been told. Naruto was, then, sent to live with his godparents. The first few years of living with them was wonderful. They were so kind and loving. Then, things got weird when his godfather started being too loving. He would always go into Naruto's room when his godmother was busy or away and play with Naruto. One day he suggested that he and Naruto play in a different kind of way. He said that Naruto wasn't to tell anyone, especially his godmother. He said it was just a secret game between Naruto and himself.

The game lasted months and if he tried to tell his godfather that he didn't want to play anymore, his godfather would say that, if he didn't, he would get thrown out on the streets and he would have no family. That scared Naruto enough to comply. One day, though, his godmother over heard Naruto complaining and when she came in to check on the pair, she was disturbed to find Naruto crying as his godfather sat with his pants down at his ankles. Apparently, godpapa wasn't too precise with his wife's plans that day. She immediately grabbed her husband and started screaming and yelling at him. She shoved him out of the room and locked Naruto and herself in, calling the police on her phone.

Naruto was allowed to stay with her after his godfather was sent to prison but she interacted very little with him. She felt so guilty knowing what her husband had done to him for so long. Naruto met Sasuke before things had gotten too weird with his godfather and Sasuke was the only reason Naruto got through it all okay. Naruto would tell Sasuke about what Naruto's godfather did and Sasuke would tell Naruto about what Sasuke's father did. Naruto felt like Sasuke understood him and he understood Sasuke. Sasuke didn't talk much and he never showed as much emotion as Naruto did while telling his stories but Naruto still felt close to him. About a week after Naruto's godfather was imprisoned, Sasuke's parents died. After that, Naruto knew that their relationship would last forever. They were special. Even though Sasuke always tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault, Naruto always felt different because of the abuse. He always felt that he wasn't like normal kids and he never could be. Sasuke understood abuse. He was the only one Naruto could connect with, at first. If this wasn't Naruto's problem, then what was?

Naruto had turned his head to the side with a loud huff. He didn't actually want to talk about it because he knew Sasuke would think it was stupid. He didn't want to feel like an idiot. Sasuke didn't back off, though. He kept staring at the boy, waiting for a response and Naruto knew Sasuke wouldn't let him leave until he got one. "Fine," he finally said. He turned to look back at Sasuke. "I'm psychic. I know I am," he blurted out after deciding that ripping it off like a band-aid was the best way to go about it. He watched tentatively for Sasuke's response.

Sasuke stared blankly for a few long moments before letting a small smirk dance across his face. "You really are an idiot, Naru."

Naruto's jaw dropped and his brows furrowed, telling Sasuke just how offensive that statement had been. "GODDAMMIT SASUKE!" Naruto bellowed. He was getting really sick of Sasuke always calling him an idiot. "Fuck you, teme!" he shouted as he stood violently from his chair. Sasuke mirrored the action much less violently and stood quickly from his chair, too. His face was paralyzed with surprise. "I'm sick of your shit!" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto," Sasuke began, "what—"

"No! Shut the fuck up! I'm trying to be real with you! I'm trying to tell you something and you call me an idiot! That's…" Naruto's anger started to fade into pain. He was growing less offended and more upset. "That's just like you, Sasuke! It's just like you to always think of me as your stupid but cute blond. Oh, there goes Sasuke with that idiot! There's Sasuke with his boy toy! Sasuke Uchiha, too good for his pathetic pal but he keeps him around for shits and fucking giggles anyway! It's so fucking _Uchiha_ of you and…" Naruto knew he was skirting dangerous territory and his eyes began to cloud with tears. He knew what he was about to say would hit Sasuke where it hurt the most but it hurt Naruto the most, too, and he wanted to say it. Still, he averted his eyes as he went on, "and your entire family knew it, too!"

Naruto heard Sasuke suck in a sharp breath. He could feel the tension that Sasuke's muscles held seep into the air between them. He knew Sasuke 's face would be blatantly stunned with hurt and imagining Sasuke looking at Naruto the way he must be looking at him now caused the tears to burn salty pathways down Naruto's cheeks. He couldn't force himself to look up at his friend.

The subject of Sasuke's family was a tough subject for both boys. Sasuke had been raised in abuse. He was a descendant of a well-known, ancient clan called the Uchihas. The Uchihas had a very distinct way of doing things and there was simply no room for anything else. Uchihas only showed emotion to themselves when they were alone in the bedroom. Uchihas did not profess love. They simply married the woman of their fathers' choosing and provided the clan with acceptable offspring. Children were beaten into submission. That simply was the Uchiha way. Sasuke was a cold, hard shell of a human being when he and Naruto met. Naruto made Sasuke very happy, though, and Naruto understood Sasuke so well that Sasuke never really had to tell him.

It was the day that both of Sasuke's parents were killed in an accident that Naruto finally saw any emotional response come from his friend… and he was laughing. He went to school that day and could not stop smiling. He finally told Naruto how his parents had died and all that he was left with was his older brother Itachi. Both Itachi and Sasuke were glad to be rid of the oppressive pressure held above them. They could finally be who they wanted to be. Ever since then, Sasuke had been very open with Naruto and Itachi had supported it. Sasuke kept up his typical Uchiha guard with most other people, though. He found it to be rather useful when used against people he didn't _care_ to be close with and the only person who Sasuke _cared_ to be close with was Naruto.

Itachi had taken care of Sasuke until Sasuke and Naruto graduated and went away to college. Sasuke didn't know where Itachi had gone but he would send Sasuke vague letters occasionally. The letters would be short and uninformative. They only served to let Sasuke know Itachi was alright and thinking about his brother. Sasuke never questioned this, thinking that Itachi was just traveling and didn't spend too much time in one place.

The real tough part of the whole situation was that Sasuke's parents, if they were alive now, would have beaten Sasuke senseless for his relationship with Naruto. They had always told Sasuke in his childhood that they disliked the blond and they made no attempt to hide that from Naruto any time he was in their presence. Sasuke had accidentally let a conversation he had with his father slip to Naruto in which his father described Naruto as the blond moron that wasn't even worthy to lick the ground that the Uchihas walked upon, let alone be Sasuke's friend. Sasuke didn't tell this to Naruto until years after the conversation happened and long after his parents had been dead but it still hurt Naruto. Knowing that Sasuke's father felt so strongly against him made him feel like Sasuke would one day adopt the idea too. Naruto _wasn't_ very smart, was he? And it _was_ in Sasuke's DNA, wasn't it?

All of this made the subject of Sasuke's family very tough for both boys. It tore Naruto up inside. It hurt Sasuke for many reasons. It hurt him because he never wanted to see Naruto hurt so badly. It hurt him because he couldn't believe he had allowed his parents to think so low of his friend. It hurt him because he didn't want to accept the fact that he could someday be like his father. No, he wasn't an Uchiha. He was Sasuke. That was all, just Sasuke and Sasuke was defined by the beautiful blond before him, not some dead son of a bitch or a useless last name.

Sasuke walked around the table and stood in front of his friend. He lifted Naruto's chin until their eyes met. He offered a weak smile, deciding to let the painful thoughts disappear. "You are everything to me, Naruto. Yeah, you're stupid sometimes but so am I. I would never mean to purposely hurt you." He stroked Naruto's cheek and pulled him closer to his body, wrapping his free arm around Naruto's waist. "I love you."

"I know already." Naruto wrapped his arms around Sasuke's waist in response and leaned in to kiss the boy. He smiled against Sasuke's lips. "I'm psychic, remember?"

Sasuke laughed at his lover, pulling away. "We'll be late for class, dobe."

Naruto stepped out of Sasuke's embrace. "Then let me get dressed, teme."

Sasuke nodded and Naruto bounced off toward the bedroom. When he reached the doorway, he paused and looked back. "Teme?" Sasuke turned to look at his companion. "I love you, too."

* * *

**A/N:** Here is the floor plan of their apartment. Don't forget to change those pesky **DOT**s into real life periods. Otherwise, you won't get to see my awesome drawing.

i169 **DOT **photobucket **DOT **com/albums/u226/RainbowsWorthRain/Fic-Related/NaruSasusaptinFampR_zpsbbf7330a **DOT **png

Be aware that they live in an end apartment and also that they live in the outdoor kind, the ones that aren't all indoors. There are no halls. When you walk out of your door, you're walking outside. That's why there are windows on three of their walls. Also, I forgot to draw the windows on the wall that their front door in on. Note that there are, in fact, two windows on either side of their front door.


	3. Chapter 3: Confessions

**Chapter Three: Confessions**

Sasuke yawned and looked up at the clock. _Twelve fifty-eight. Two minutes to go._

"Sasuke," a familiar voice whispered beside him. "Hey, Sasuke!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes before looking at the pink-haired girl sitting beside him. "What?" he responded in a flat whisper.

"Wanna get lunch together?" the girl asked excitedly. "I know this really good place just off campus."

Sasuke stared blankly at her. "No, Sakura. I don't."

She remained completely undeterred, "Ohh, come on! It'll be fun. I'm meeting Naruto later anyway. I figured we can just get lunch together." Her eyes were shining with the most annoying excitement.

"No," he said just as the bell rang. He stood immediately and started shoving his things in his bag. He wanted to get away from her as soon as possible.

"Great! I'll call Naruto," she said, the happiness in her voice abandoning the whisper.

Sasuke groaned and threw his bag over his shoulder as he exited the classroom. He noticed Sakura walking close behind him but did nothing to ward her off. He knew he wasn't going to get out of it. Even when he blatantly told her no, Sakura typically did what she wanted anyway. She really annoyed him but Naruto liked her so he was forced to deal with her anyway. You can imagine how deeply disturbed he was to find out that they had Human Sexuality together. She, of course, jumped at the chance to sit next to Sasuke, much to his dismay.

She wasn't all _that_ bad, though. She was studying to be a psychologist and Sasuke knew that was exactly what Naruto needed, a goddamn psychologist. Her biggest drawback was her irritating inclination to psychoanalyze Sasuke as if it was some sick hobby. Sasuke allowed his annoyance to fade as he thought back to what she had said before. 'I'm meeting Naruto later anyway.' Hm, that meant that Naruto did exactly what Sasuke wanted him to do. He called a therapist. That was good, even if that therapist _was_ Sakura and not exactly qualified, either. It was still a start. Sasuke couldn't help but smile at his small triumph until his thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's loud voice.

"Yep! We just got out. Ohhh, sooo boring. I mean really, the class is a drag! No way! Ohhh, wow!" Naruto seemed to be telling her a pretty great story. "Shut up! Damn! Oh, no! Don't bother! It's really close. We'll just walk! Huh? No, that will take too much time. I have a 2:30 class. We'll just meet you there. _Yes_, Naruto. _WE_. Sasuke, of course! Who did you think? Alright, bye!" The way that she said 'bye' so giddily made Sasuke shudder. He really hated her enthusiasm. The most annoying part of it was that she was _actually_ that happy all the time. Even when Sasuke was being a complete and total asshole, she let it roll off with a smile. She always spoke with disgustingly genuine pep. "Looks like Naruto didn't really want you there. Wouldn't happen to know why, would you?"

Sasuke gave her a sideways glance. "Hn? No." Although, Sasuke did have a good idea. If Naruto had, in fact, called Sakura to discuss his recurring dream, he definitely wouldn't want Sasuke there for it. It was the perfect excuse to get away from Sakura and Sasuke thought about just telling her why but it was also the perfect way to get away from his blond and he really wasn't about to lose quality Naruto time just because of her.

"Hm… that's weird." Sakura seemed to really ponder a few things before continuing. "Oh well! We'll still have a nice time, right?"

"Probably not," Sasuke responded. Her beam didn't falter.

"I can't wait! You're really gonna love this place, Sasuke. I just know it!"

"I bet."

They continued all the way to the restaurant that way, Sakura talking endlessly and Sasuke offering vague, uninterested responses. When they finally got there Sasuke was extremely relieved to see Naruto waiting for them. Finally, someone else for her to talk to! Sasuke sat down beside Naruto and Sakura sat across from the pair.

Sasuke noticed that Naruto wasn't looking at the menu, as was his normal fashion when he was in front of one. Even after he had already chosen, he'd keep looking at the menu, drooling over everything he read. "You okay?" Sasuke asked, letting a small look of concern float across his face just long enough for Naruto to recognize but quick enough so that Sakura would miss it. The last thing he needed was for Sakura to see him acting kind. She might be encouraged with the knowledge that he was _capable_ of kindness.

"Uh…" Naruto looked away. "Fine."

"You're just fighting with the menu, then?" This was Sasuke's poor attempt at a joke. Naruto typically appreciated his friend's attempts at joking, it was cute and endearing but this time he hadn't even tried to fake a laugh.

"I already decided. That's all."

Sasuke took the cue that his interaction was unwanted and looked at his own menu while scooting to put a few extra inches between Naruto and himself. If Naruto was going to act so aloof then, fine. Sasuke wasn't going to bother him at all. He wasn't even going to sit close enough to accidentally brush Naruto's arm. He was going to make Naruto miss their usual close proximity.

Sakura watched the pair with analytical eyes. She kept her giddy attitude up but she was always watching, calculating, gathering information. She knew that both boys had a rough past and she was very interested in their behavior, especially together. Her naturally positive attitude allowed Naruto to warm up to her easily and cause Sasuke to push her away. Both reactions she wanted from the boys. She needed Naruto to be trusting and Sasuke to treat her just as he would treat anyone he didn't like. This was the best way to understand and, hopefully, help them both. That is, if they weren't already beyond helping.

"Let's talk," she offered with a smile, mostly to Naruto.

"Right…" He shifted a nervous glance to Sasuke who never looked away from his menu. "Um, Sakura, I was kind of hoping we could do this in private."

Sasuke huffed and put his menu down on the table with enough force to portray anger without drawing unwanted attention. "Fine!" he exclaimed. "Here's your privacy." He picked his bag up off of the floor and stood from the table. It was uncharacteristic for him to throw a temper tantrum, even one this minuscule It was all part of the act, of course, to make Naruto feel bad for pushing him away right now.

"Sit!" Sakura demanded sternly. She turned her eyes to Sasuke, all traces of her warm and inviting self long gone. "Now!" Sasuke wasn't one to take orders but her sudden change of attitude _did_ quite intrigue him. He did as he was told. Sakura turned her eyes back to Naruto, letting them warm back up. "We _are_ in private, Naruto." She gestured to the tables around them, most of which were empty. The ones that weren't empty were a safe distance away, well out of earshot "Whatever you say is for these ears only. It's not like you have to be ashamed of _Sasuke_. I'm sure he already knows anyway, even if you didn't tell him. The man _is_ a psychological ninja." She gave Sasuke a look of approval. Sasuke scoffed. As if he needed _her_ praise.

Naruto nodded and decided to go on. "Alright. Well… Well, it's about this dream I keep having." He stopped and looked at Sasuke who was staring at Sakura. Naruto turned back away. "It's just… It's so real. It's so scary. It… It…" He couldn't seem to find the words.

"It wakes me up every night," Sasuke finished.

Naruto let out a sigh of dismay and Sakura watched as the courage fled from his eyes. "Sasuke," she said, lazily turning her gaze to him, "shut up." Her eyes were cold and Sasuke was shocked at her attitude. "Naruto is trying to talk. Nobody asked you." She raised an eyebrow, as if daring him to challenge her.

He scrunched his face into a scowl. "Then why did you insist I stay?"

Sakura nodded her head slightly at the blond who was staring down at the table in front of him, clearly deflated. "For you to listen, to offer support. That's all."

Sasuke followed her nod and looked at his friend. He felt instantly guilty for having made Naruto feel so down. _She's right_, he thought to himself. _Damn her. She's right._ He moved his hand to rest gently on Naruto's thigh, causing the boy to look up at Sasuke and acknowledge the encouraging smile across his face. Sakura took a mental note of Sasuke's change in attitude. It was very vital information indeed. Naruto then looked back to Sakura who nodded reassuringly, signaling him to continue.

"Well… I don't know what it is."

"What happens?" Sakura prompted.

"I… I think someone dies. I don't know who but it's like I _am_ the person who dies and I know the voice that's talking to me but I can't see anything. It's just dark."

"Maybe you _are_ him, Naruto. Maybe it's about you," Sakura said.

"No, it's not. I know it's not because I have this idea of how we got to where we are in the dream and there's no way it could be me. There's just no way that stuff would happen in my life," Naruto disagreed.

_Interesting,_ Sakura thought to herself. "Naruto, it _is_ a dream. It doesn't have to be realistic."

"No," he responded immediately. "No."

_He cannot discern dream from reality. He feels like his dreams should be true depictions of his present life,_ Sakura mentally noted.

"No, as in he thinks he's psychic at that the dream is going to happen," Sasuke added.

Sakura gave him a disapproving glare as Naruto turned his head further away from Sasuke. Avoiding Sasuke's eyes meant avoiding the memory of that terrible conversation at breakfast. _Right,_ Sasuke thought. _Support._

"Is that so, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

He kept his eyes averted. "Yeah, something like that."

"Well," she continued, trying hard not to sound condescending, "it's not strange to feel like one's dreams are real but to expect to only dream about real things… well… that's just… abnormal."

_Great! Make him feel less normal than he already does,_ Sasuke thought angrily in his head. _Bitch._

"Naruto," she continued, "what sort of things do you think lead you up to dying in the dream? Why _couldn't_ it be you?"

"Well, I feel like we are being chased by some people and that they wanted to kill us. Well, they want to kill me, at least. The reason they want to do it, though, isn't to hurt me. It's to send a message to someone else. It feels like… like… like I'm on some sort of hit list and I've been hit. That would never happen to me. I don't know any people like that."

Sakura nodded. This was true. Nothing of that nature _would_ ever happen to Naruto, not unless Sasuke was part of the CIA. She chuckled to herself, clearly entertained by the idea. _That doesn't actually sound too out there. Sasuke _would_ turn out to be a super secret, international ninja. That's probably what his family was training him for his whole life, right? HAH!_ Sakura thought she was such a riot. She came out of her mental ruminations to find both boys looking at her skeptically.

"Sorry. I wasn't laughing at you. Just some stupid thought about Sasuke being a real ninja. Anyway, I urge you to see a real therapist, Naruto. I have my own theories but I'm barely into my degree. You need some real insight. Don't worry, though. I'm sure you'll be fine." She then picked up her own menu. "Now, let's eat."

"Alright," Naruto said timidly.

Sasuke kneaded Naruto's leg in an attempt to comfort him which was rewarded with Naruto finally relaxing into his chair and allowing Sasuke to relax himself. He felt content knowing that Naruto was more at ease and finally agreed to see a real therapist, even if he still had to share the afternoon with Sakura who would likely be back to her sickeningly chipper self. Suddenly eager to eat and be rid of her, he hailed the waiter to order their lunch.


	4. Chapter 4: Disruptions

**Chapter Four: Disruptions**

"For fucks sake, Naruto, pay attention! You have been zoning out way too much lately," Sasuke scolded.

Naruto shook his head mildly as Sasuke's annoyed voice ushered him back into reality. "S-Sorry."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I _said_ do you want me to come in with you or…" Sasuke paused, waiting for the blond to respond. He didn't think he'd have to finish the sentence. "Naruto? What do you want me to do?"

Naruto was watching the cars pass by in the street, seeming so menacing. "Uhh… well… um…" he stammered.

"Naruto?" Sasuke prodded impatiently.

"Right! Uhh, walk me in," Naruto finally responded, ripping his eyes from the heavy traffic and smiling weakly at his companion. Sasuke's response was a wince of concern. Naruto had been acting extra strange since their talk with Sakura. Sasuke turned to look down the street and gauge when the best time to cross would be. He had parked his car across the street from the building that they were now trying to get to. Naruto's breath was starting to come to him in shorter, sharper intervals. He was getting dizzy and he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen. He looked over at Sasuke and just as he did, Sasuke moved to cross the street.

"NO!" Naruto roared and grabbed Sasuke roughly by the back of his shirt and pulled. Sasuke flew back into the blond, knocking them both down onto the sidewalk. Without hesitation, the pale boy leapt up and grabbed Naruto by the shirt collar, forcing him to stand as well. His eyes were full of anger as he shouted, "What?" The cars began whizzing by again and Sasuke was seething. "It was a perfectly good time to cross! What's your issue, dobe?"

Naruto gulped hard and tried to smile innocently as he attempted to gently pry Sasuke's hands from his shirt collar. "S-Sorry, Sasuke. I was just… um…"

"Just what?" Sasuke shouted, finally releasing his grip on his friend. Sasuke let out a quick breath and turned his attention back to the street. Naruto was planning how to explain himself to Sasuke when he felt Sasuke grab him harshly by the wrist and yank him into the road. Naruto didn't resist as Sasuke dragged him across the street. "All this obsession with cars and streets lately. I swear to god, if you do that to me _one more goddamn time_, Naruto, I'm going to _kill_ you!" Sasuke threw Naruto's wrist from his grip once they were safely on the sidewalk. He glanced sideways at Naruto before turning forward to face the building doors and saying, "I'll walk you in and wait with you." He began to straighten out his clothes. Naruto could no longer see his face so he missed the expression of anticipation flutter across it as Sasuke spoke the next few words. "Let's get on with it."

Naruto felt guilty for having made Sasuke so angry but he couldn't help the fact that he felt suddenly so protective of him. He couldn't shake the sickening feeling that Sasuke was constantly in danger. Over the past three days since they had spoken to Sakura, Naruto had been doing this to Sasuke nonstop. He was constantly stopping Sasuke abruptly from walking a certain way or snatching food or drink away from him. He had especially been concerned about Sasuke and cars. It was no surprise that Sasuke was growing tired of it and finally snapped. He was, undoubtedly, very glad that this appointment with the psychologist had finally come. Maybe Naruto would stop acting so crazy and leave Sasuke alone. Naruto couldn't help it, though, if he was so inexplicably worried about Sasuke. He kept feeling like he was going to die. _Sasuke should be flattered that I want to protect him so badly… right?_ Naruto sighed and followed Sasuke into the building.

"Appointment for Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke said to the receptionist flatly. Sasuke always interacted with strangers in this way and it always bothered Naruto. He wanted other people to see Sasuke the way that Naruto saw Sasuke. Sasuke could be warm and loving. He could be kind, caring, and compassionate. If only he would let other people in but Naruto knew that was wishful thinking. Naruto was just getting tired of hearing people say bad things about Sasuke. _They_ didn't know him.

The receptionist typed something into her computer before smiling warmly at Sasuke. "Have a seat, please. The doctor will call you in a moment, Mr. Uzumaki."

Sasuke rejected her warm smile and narrowed his eyes into a glare. "That's _him,_"—Sasuke nodded his head sharply at Naruto—"not me." She looked worried, as Sasuke's tone lead her to believe that she had offended him. She was beginning to apologize but Sasuke turned before she got a chance and walked across the room to sit in a chair in the corner.

"Sorry," Naruto said to the receptionist. "He's a bit crabby." Naruto smiled at the receptionist who accepted it willingly and offered her own kind smile in return.

"It's no problem Mr.—"

"Naruto will be fine," Naruto interrupted her.

She couldn't help but broaden her smile as she nodded in acceptance. Naruto did have a certain charm with people. He nodded back at her before crossing the room to sit beside Sasuke. "You really don't have to be so—"

He was interrupted by Sasuke's cold eyes on him. "You don't have to lecture me."

Naruto sighed in exasperation. "You're such a—"

"Naruto," a gentle but stern voice called out, interrupting the blond. Naruto didn't take his eyes off of Sasuke.

"Here," Sasuke responded for the blond, as he rolled his eyes away from Naruto and stood to face the doctor. "He's here, doctor."

She smiled at Sasuke while extending her hand to him. "Please, doctor is so impersonal. Call me Tsunade."

Sasuke took her hand and shook it politely. Naruto sighed as he stood. _Better turn on the charm before Sasuke's angst turns her to stone._ Just as Naruto was thinking that, the doctor turned to regard him. "You must be Naruto." She smiled at him and offered her hand as well. "Will your friend be joining us?"

"U-Uhh…" Naruto stuttered.

"No," Sasuke answered dryly, "I will not."

Tsunade didn't so much as flinch at Sasuke's cold demeanor. "Oh, but you must!" she exclaimed. She then placed one very gentle handle on Sasuke's shoulder to usher him through the doors. She was polite but very clear with her actions. Sasuke had no choice but to comply for fear of being too rude. Rudeness always awarded him a twenty minute lecture on the importance of tact and courtesy from Naruto. "Sakura has told me so much already. I think it would be best to have you both in the room." Sasuke sneered but walked through the doors anyway. "We're in room 12," she informed Sasuke. Tsunade then turned her attention to Naruto.

"I don't really…" Naruto said, trailing off and hoping she got what he was saying without him actually having to say it. Admitting out loud that he didn't want Sasuke around felt wrong to Naruto.

"It's for the best, dear. Trust me." Tsunade smiled reassuringly. "Come on."

Naruto followed Sasuke down the hall nervously. Tsunade had been his therapist a total of ten seconds and she had already managed to piss off Sasuke, although, that really wasn't a hard feat. Being the first to reach the room, Sasuke opened the door and chose to sit out of the way in a chair at the back of the room. He knew the mind games that these doctors could play. He had spent many years in therapy. He wasn't going to fall for anything stupid. Naruto followed Sasuke in and chose to sit on the couch in the middle of the room. _Hah,_ Sasuke snickered to himself. _Just what she wants you to do. She wants to be your 'friend'._ That was all fine for Naruto but Sasuke had no desire to partake. This wasn't _his_ session. Tsunade followed Naruto, closed the door and sat in a chair across from the couch.

Tsunade looked past Naruto to Sasuke and smiled. "I think it would be best if you sat here with Naruto."

Naruto's face scrunched up nervously. He really didn't want Sasuke there, let alone right beside him and analyzing his every movement. Sasuke rolled his eyes before responding. "This isn't about me, doctor. This is about Naruto."

"Tsunade," she corrected, "but what concerns Naruto concerns you. You may have a lot more to do with this than you think. Please," she continued, "move to the proper seat."

Sasuke wasn't in the mood to play her games. He wasn't here to be analyzed. Naruto was. He didn't want to ruin anything for Naruto, though. He didn't want to make the situation any more tense than it needed to be so he did what he was told and sat next to Naruto on the couch. He could feel how uncomfortable that made Naruto, though, which caused him to look questioningly at his companion. _This is what she wants,_ Sasuke thought. _She's trying to play the situation to her advantage._ Sasuke knew that he wouldn't be taken so easily by Tsunade's psychologist tricks but Naruto would. Naruto was doing exactly what she wanted him to do. _But why,_ Sasuke wondered. _Why does he feel so uncomfortable and why does she want him to?_

"I'm not mad at you anymore for knocking me down, Naruto," Sasuke said, hoping to eliminate the tension in the air.

"Oh… uh… okay…" Naruto responded, keeping his eyes from meeting Sasuke's.

Sasuke turned to face Tsunade and leaned back into the couch cushion. She knew something Sasuke didn't and Sasuke could swear he saw a malicious glint cross her eyes and he narrowed his own eyes into a glare. _What is she playing at?_

"Alright," Tsunade spoke. "Naruto, this is a safe place. Think of this office as a lock box. You can put everything in here and no one will ever find it. It's safe here. You're safe here. Let's just get right into it. Tell me about your dream."

Sasuke decided to be as unobtrusive as possible as Naruto spoke. "Well… um…" He looked uneasily toward Sasuke.

"Sasuke already knows, Naruto. It's okay." She nodded kindly to reassure Naruto. He felt eased by Tsunade's attitude but he was chuckling nervously on the inside. Sasuke didn't know _everything_ that Naruto felt and this could get real awkward real quick.

"Um… well… it feels like someone is chasing us. Sasuke and myself, I mean," Naruto began to explain. "We're trying to escape but then it's like I can't move anymore. I don't dream about the chase but I feel like it's already happened. It feels like I can remember looking at Sasuke and seeing terror in his eyes." Sasuke's couldn't deny his curiosity. Naruto had never explained it like this before. Naruto tried to ignore Sasuke's presence. "It's like it's us but it's not us. It _can't_ be us because we would never get into a situation like this. But anyway, it feels like there's a lifetime between us and everything is black. I can hear Sasuke talking but I don't know if it's even Sasuke, to be honest. It's him in my dream, I'm sure. It's also me in the dream, I'm sure. But it's really neither of us. We're both trying to say things to the other but we're not sure if it's really getting through. It's scary." Naruto had grown more relaxed through explaining the dream. It wasn't so hard to say once he said it. He was less aware of Sasuke's intimidating presence now.

"Right. Sakura tells me you think of this as reality. As if your dreams can only be real," Tsunade informed.

"It's not a dream. It _is_ real. I know it is. It has to be," Naruto defended, knowing full well that he sounded like a maniac.

"A premonition, then? You think that this is actually going to happen to someone somewhere but it won't be you and Sasuke?" Tsunade proposed.

"Um…" Naruto grew nervous again. "Well…" This was the reason he didn't want Sasuke there. This was information he'd tried not to convey to Sasuke, although, his actions as of late have been portraying it quite blatantly. "I… uh… I can't believe it's _us_ but… I… I can't shake this feeling that it _is_ Sasuke…" Sasuke looked curiously at Naruto who was trying very hard to avoid Sasuke's eyes. "It's _Sasuke_ dying…"

"What?" Sasuke exclaimed. "You've been dreaming about me dying this whole time and you haven't bothered to tell me?"

"No! It's just the past couple of days. I've just been feeling like you're in danger and then… in the dreams… it starts to feel like it's you dying," Naruto explained. "Well… it feels like it's… our_ connection_ that's dying, really. It's like I can't feel you anymore." Naruto finally looked into Sasuke's confused eyes. "I've always felt you, Sasuke. I've always felt you in my heart but in these dreams… that starts to die and I know I could never stop loving you like that. So it can't be me… it has to be you." Naruto's eyes were clouding with tears. He didn't want to talk about this to Sasuke because he didn't know _how_ to say it.

Sasuke was floored with the new information. "Naruto," he started as a surge of annoyance ran over him, "you think that _I'm_ the one who's going to stop loving _you_. You think _I'm_ going to break our connection? That's what this is? This stupid dream is some subconscious way of saying that you think I'm not faithful," he accused.

"What? No!" Naruto defended. "You're not getting it! It's not a dream!"

"You're right," Sasuke agreed. "It's bullshit!"

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. His voice was trembling. "Sasuke! I'm terrified! This is real! It's real to _me_!"

Sasuke was ashamed that he had let emotion cloud his judgment like that. He had completely forgotten Naruto's place in all of this. He _must_ be scared. _Of course_ he was scared. Sasuke sighed. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but I'm not leaving you," he tried to console. "Your premonition is wrong. I love you."

Naruto looked down at the ground before saying quietly, "For now."

The words hit Sasuke deep down and sent a painful pang throughout his body. _How could he ever think I would leave him?_ Unsure of how to proceed, Sasuke turned his own gaze to the ground.

"Well," Tsunade exclaimed, "I suppose you two have done all the work for me." Neither boy looked up at her. "I guess we can call it a day. Naruto, you should try to understand these dreams more clearly from now on. Try to see if you can't discern where you are, who's chasing you. It might help you figure out why Sasuke is going to—" She was interrupted by the blond standing abruptly and leaving the room quickly. Sasuke followed Naruto with his eyes.

_That bitch,_ Sasuke thought. _She did this._ Sasuke turned her attention to Tsunade. "What are getting at?"

She shrugged innocently. "I don't know what you mean." She then scribbled something in her notebook and as Sasuke looked to see what it was. She covered it protectively. _Hm,_ Sasuke wondered. _That's a little too protective of a stupid notebook. She's not even _my_ therapist._ Her actions provoked skeptical eyes to land on her.

"I'm on to your games, doctor. I've been to a lot of therapy sessions in my life. You have a hidden agenda and I don't like it. Any typical therapist would have left me out for the first few session, if I was even necessary at all. You should have wanted to establish a relationship with him _without_ me. If Sakura told you everything, then she definitely would have mentioned how uncomfortable Naruto was about having me around when he talks about that stuff. Now, I know why. He obviously didn't want to admit to me that he feels unsure about our relationship and if you knew that, you shouldn't have made me come in. You should have put his feelings first but you _wanted_ to see him struggle, didn't you? You _want_ to cause tension between us. You care more about _us_ than _him_ but _he's_ your patient, not me." Sasuke surveyed Tsunade closely for a moment, judging her reaction. "Whatever you've got going on in that sick head, you can cut it out." Sasuke stood abruptly, catching a glimpse of the watermark on her notebook paper. What he saw shocked him but he kept that emotion hidden.

"Sasuke—" Tsunade began to protest.

"No!" Sasuke exclaimed. "He will_ not_ be coming back to you ever again." He narrowed his eyes and Tsunade dropped her gentle facade in a favor of her own assertive glare.

"Naruto will return to me," she said sternly. "It is important that he does."

"For who?" Sasuke asked angrily.

Tsunade stood. "For everyone."

"No," Sasuke said unconvinced. "It's not important. There are plenty of good therapists in this city. Goodbye."

With that, Sasuke turned and left the room, closing the door behind him. He walked down the hall and out into the lobby. Once safely there, he let the questions he was suppressing hit him. _Why would she have that notebook? Why would Sakura send us to her? Why is my family's symbol on her paper? __If I think clearly I can remember that she wears a necklace with it, too. What is Sakura doing? _No, Sakura wouldn't be involved. She wouldn't know if anything was suspicious. Just what the hell is going on here? Sasuke was then overcome by the overwhelming need to be next to Naruto. He left the lobby and ran across the street to his car. He let out a sigh of relief when he found the blond sitting inside waiting for him. Sasuke got in the car and completely disregarded the fact that they were supposed to be avoiding the topic.

"Naruto, I'm sorry about all that but that doctor has it in for you," he said bluntly.

"What?" Naruto responded indifferently, looking out of the car window.

Sasuke felt the urge to get away from the place. Any place that was associated with his family made him uneasy. He hadn't had any contact with any family or family affiliations since his father died. Even before then, he was pretty out of the loop. So, he wasn't going to accept this sudden encounter as friendly or a coincidence. He wasn't going to leave anything to chance. He started the car and sped home as fast as he legally could. The car ride was made in silence. Once finally in the safety of their apartment, Sasuke let out a long breath that he seemed to have been holding the entire time.

"What's up with you?" Naruto asked as Sasuke paced the kitchen floor.

"Naruto, that woman has something to do with my family. I don't know what but I don't trust her. No one from my family has contacted me in any way since my father's death," Sasuke began to rant. "I haven't even so much as seen the family symbol _anywhere_ but she had it on her notebook. Now, that shouldn't be _so_ weird. It could just be by chance. Except, she wore it around her neck on a necklace, too. That's too personal. That means that she's definitely intertwined into my family. Now, I don't know exactly what the family business was. Itachi knew but that was because my father liked Itachi. Itachi was being recruited into the business and I wasn't allowed any information but Ita would sometimes tell me things that father would tell him. He told me once that when father took him to work they passed a room and inside there was a man tied to a chair and he was bloodied up. Father always told him not to tell anyone and that the things behind the Uchiha walls were secrets to be guarded with your life. Ita told me other disturbing things, too. I don't know what she's getting at or why she's interested in me now but that doctor was _trying_ to cause a rift between us. She—"

"Sasuke," Naruto interrupted and Sasuke finally stopped pacing to regard Naruto, "I don't care what her intentions are. That dream is real. _This_ is real. That rift isn't because of her. It's because I can't be rid of the feeling that you're going to leave me, Sasuke. Analyze _that_."

"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed with exasperation. "I don't know why you're having this dream or premonition or _whatever_ but I do know this, _I love you_! I don't have any intention of breaking our connection. I also know that my family is dangerous," Sasuke added, jumping topics again and causing Naruto to roll his eyes. Sasuke was rather self-indulgent right now and it was really annoying. "Showing this strange interest in us all of the sudden has me on edge. Anything Uchiha related would surely detest me. My father definitely would have made sure of that. Whatever they want, it can't be good, Naruto." Sasuke walked up to his friend and looked him in the eyes. "I have a bad feeling about this."


	5. Chapter 5: Premonitions

**Chapter Five: Premonitions**

"Yes, sir. It seems that his close relationship with Sasuke has caused his inner eye to stir. We were not expecting this. Itachi or Fugaku should have taken more caution with the boy. They put too much faith in Sasuke to reject him but, alas, the boy is beginning to awaken. We must get to Sasuke as soon as possible. There is no time to waste. Soon, that boy will start to see more troubling things and we will have to obtain Sasuke by other means… Yes, sir, I am aware. Perhaps, that was his wish but, with both Itachi and himself out of the question, Sasuke is our only hope. We will simply have to persuade him into submission… No, sir, there is no other way. I have checked… I understand… I will formulate a plan to separate the boys and obtain the Uchiha… If he becomes problematic, I will obt… s-sir… but, sir, if we… we won't be able to… y-yes, sir… then, I will dispose of Naruto immediately."

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, grabbing wildly at the sheets in search of his companion.

"Ughhh! What?" Sasuke awakened angrily, grabbing Naruto's wrists to stop the commotion. "I'm here, Naruto." Naruto sighed in relief. "I see that dream is still relentless and it's"—Sasuke looked at the clock—"three in the goddamn morning. How convenient." He released Naruto's wrists and sat up in the bed.

"No, Sasuke. This one was different," Naruto spoke with haste. "This one was way different."

"What," Sasuke began sarcastically. "Are _you_ dying this time?"

"It was about Tsunade," said Naruto.

"Go on," Sasuke prompted Naruto curiously, now genuinely interested in what he had to say.

"She was on the phone with someone talking about… about… _us_. She was talking about Itachi and your dad saying that they should have been more cautious about some boy. They had too much faith in you to reject that boy or something. She said something about an inner eye and… and obtaining _you_. She said you were their only hope and that she was going to separate us and then… then…" Naruto's throat grew tight. "She said she would dispose of me… immediately."

"What," Sasuke whispered in astonishment. The words were shocking, though, he didn't truly believe that any of it was real.

"I don't know," Naruto whispered back uncertainly.

"Naruto… you don't think that… this is…" Sasuke began reluctantly.

Naruto knew what Sasuke was getting at. "It felt just like the other one. It felt real," he answered confidently.

"Well, then we've got an issue, don't we? Some crazy therapist wants to _obtain __me_ and_ kill you_." Sasuke averted his eyes as he pondered how to disagree with Naruto kindly, without the use of sarcasm or sounding like a total asshole. "Naruto…" Sasuke began uncertainly, interrupted by Naruto throwing up a finger to quiet him. "Na…" Sasuke tried to repeat but Naruto pressed his finger harder against Sasuke's lips. "What," Sasuke whispered against Naruto's silencing finger. Naruto shook his head slowly in confusion.

"I have this feeling that someone is listening to us or… will be," said Naruto.

"Naruto, _that_ is absurd," Sasuke mumbled against Naruto's finger.

"No… let's just… I would feel better if we went to a hotel." Naruto got out of bed and walked across the room to the dresser.

"Naruto this is too much," Sasuke exclaimed automatically.

"Sasuke," Naruto said strongly, turning to face his companion in the dark room lit solely by moonlight. "Get up and pack a bag. We're going out of town for a few days."

"Naruto," Sasuke spoke as if he was pleading for his companion's sanity.

"Sasuke," Naruto answered as if he was sick of hearing him talk. "Please, for my own peace of mind, just pack a bag. I'm going to make the next few days in this apartment miserable if you don't."

"You're lucky we just went on break. I guess we _could_ use a vacation or, at least, you definitely could," Sasuke muttered in defeat.

"That's the spirit!" Naruto smiled happily at Sasuke.

Sasuke got up and crossed the room. He reached to turn on the lamp. "No!" Naruto shouted loudly, reaching out a desperate hand as if to stop him from across the room. "Keep the lights off."

"What the fuck," Sasuke said incredulously. "You're mad!" He was now extremely concerned with Naruto's behavior. _He actually thinks we're being watched. I'm a bit edgy myself but it's not like Tsunade is a ninja come to abduct us in the night,_ he thought to himself. He let it go, though, and decided it best to simply appease Naruto. Though, he did fear he was only feeding into the insanity. He walked around to the closet, instead, and pulled out two duffel bags. "If you're gonna act crazy, then pack my bag, too. I'm going to make some coffee." Naruto gave him a skeptical look. "Yes… _in the dark_."

Naruto nodded and continued pulling clothes from the dresser. Sasuke gave him one last questioning look before walking to the kitchen and starting his coffee. It took Naruto as long as it took Sasuke to make coffee to pack their bags. Naruto dropped the two bags on the kitchen floor and flung the clothes Sasuke was to wear on the counter before retreating into the living area.

"That seems like a bit more than a couple of days, Naruto," Sasuke noted.

"Yeah, well, we might be out for longer," Naruto responded despondently as he looked for something among the bookshelves.

"Really," Sasuke nearly whined when he noticed that the shirt Naruto had picked out for him was a short sleeved, button up, Hawaiian print shirt. "I will not be caught _dead_ in this shirt."

"Heh," Naruto chuckled. "Well, it's what you're wearing. You _will_ be caught dead if you _don't_ wear it. It's perfect. It's something an Uchiha would never wear. They won't even give you a second glance."

"Naruto," Sasuke said firmly. He was definitely annoyed with this behavior. "Look, this is borderline insane. _Who_ are we trying to avoid?"

"I don't know, Sasuke. I don't know anything," Naruto sad rather calmly. "All I know is that you need to wear that shirt, we need to get out of town, and you need to stop calling me crazy. I already feel stupid enough. This is weird but I can't help the way that I feel. Just pour your coffee and get dressed." Naruto kept searching the bookshelves.

"_What_ are you looking for," Sasuke asked, sick of Naruto's lack of interest in him.

"Found it!" Naruto walked to the counter and set down a box.

"_How_ did you know where that was and, more importantly, _what_ the fuck do you think you're doing," Sasuke snapped, tensing up at the sight of the box.

"Huh," Naruto gave Sasuke a perplexed look. "Uh… I don't know," Naruto said with genuine confusion. He looked at the box like it was his first time seeing it, as if he didn't just go searching for it and then carry it to the counter. Naruto glanced over his shoulder, as if he expected the scene of him looking for the box to play out before him. "I just… I guess I just had a feeling that we should take this box," he said. Clearly, he said it as a question rather than an answer. "I just looked until I found it, I guess," he added uncertainly. "Why?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed into a glare as he pointed angrily at the symbol of his family's crest on the box. "It's _mine_ and I _do not_ want you to touch it_ ever again_. Got that," he spat. "How in the world would you even know what it looks like?"

"Um…" Naruto started nervously. "Sorry Sasuke. I-I don't know. I still think we should take it."

"NO," Sasuke roared. "NO, we're _not_ taking it and, NO, I'm _not_ wearing that shirt! In fact, NO, I will _not_ pour my coffee and, NO, I'm not going _anywhere_ but back to bed!" He slammed his fist down on the counter.

"Sasuke…" Naruto began cautiously. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just think we shouldn't leave anything precious behind."

"Precious," Sasuke shouted as if he was amused. "Precious? _This_ is not _precious_. This isn't even useful! It's locked and I don't have the key. It's just some piece of shit momento left by Ita. I loved my brother, Naruto, but he left me with a fucking box that I can't even unlock. It's worthless."

In a fit of bravery, Naruto picked up the box and shoved in Sasuke's bag. Perhaps, Sasuke didn't understand him but Naruto knew that what he was doing was for the best, even if he didn't know how he knew. Sasuke wasn't having it, though. He moved to intersect Naruto but Naruto shoved his shoulder into Sasuke's torso, keeping him back.

"Naruto," Sasuke exclaimed with equal parts anger and surprise.

"Sasuke," Naruto huffed out in the struggle. "Look, I know I don't make any sense right now and maybe I never will!" He he heaved a relieved sigh as he zipped up the bag with the box safely inside. He sat down on the bag to keep Sasuke from retrieving it. "Maybe I _am_ crazy but just try to trust me right now and if this is all for nothing then we will come back and you can admit me into the psych ward or _whatever_!" Naruto's emotions were calming. "It's not like we have anything to lose. Our relationship is going to hell anyway," Naruto mumbled. "Just fucking humor me," he added more audibly.

A look of shock fell over Sasuke's face. "Our relationship… is going to hell?"

"Oh, come on!" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Innocent and naïve is my thing, Sasuke. It doesn't suit you."

"Our relationship is _not_ going to hell, Naruto. Not because of some stupid dream," Sasuke argued.

"Premonition," Naruto corrected hotly.

"WHATEVER!" Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose. _How did we get to this point,_ he thought. Then, against his better judgment, he poured his coffee into a cup and began getting dressed. "I'll humor you, Naruto. I'll humor you…" He paused to button his pants. "I will humor you because I love you." Once he finished his statement he looked into unreadable blue eyes. For once, Sasuke couldn't read Naruto like an open book. "Let's go, then."

Naruto let out the breath he was holding as Sasuke picked up his coffee and Naruto's bag, seeing as Naruto was sitting on his own, and walked toward the door. Naruto closed his eyes and began to wonder, _Am I going to be the one to cause this? If… if our connection does die… will it be because of me?_ His thoughts were interrupted by Sasuke's voice. "Are you coming or what," Sasuke crowed as he stood outside the open door to their apartment.

Naruto nodded, picked up his bag, and moved to follow his companion to the car. They would be off on an adventure, now. Naruto didn't know what any of this meant. He didn't know where he was going or why he was going there but he was just going to go and Sasuke was coming. It was sure to be a journey that neither he nor Sasuke could expect. All Naruto could do was be prepared for the unexpected and he was.


	6. Chapter 6: Bonds

**Warning:** Very hot boyXboy action ensues. Yaoi is present and it goes much further than a kiss ;) This is a lemon for all of you guys who are craving some citrus.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Bonds**

_What could be going on in that head,_ Sasuke thought, glancing at Naruto as he slept in the passenger seat. _Of course, I'm woken up in the middle of the night and I'm expected to drive as **he** sleeps. God,_ Sasuke thought as he rolled his eyes. "What a fucking joke," he said to himself out loud. "Why even bother to be quiet? This douche bag is napping like a cat and I'm trying not to drive us off of the damn road. Just drive, he says. I don't know where we're going, he says. We'll find out soon enough, he says. Ahhhh fuck! You're mad, Naruto." Sasuke turned to look at Naruto again. "Mad! You hear me? No." He laughed. "You're sleeping and I'm talking to myself." Sasuke sighed. "Still, here I am driving around aimlessly in the middle of the night. No clue where I'm going but driving anyway. Why, Sasuke? Why are you playing along with this? Hmph… I'll tell you why, because you love him and even if he sounds like a raving lunatic, he's _your_ raving lunatic." He glanced once again at Naruto and smiled at the peaceful look on his face. "Yeah, you're mine, Naruto. Doesn't matter how crazy you get, you'll always be mine." Sasuke's smiled broadened. "I love you," he whispered.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he jolted out of his sleep.

"Dear god! What Naruto?," Sasuke shouted as he jumped in his seat and clutched a hand from the steering wheel onto his chest. "Fuck! Stop waking up screaming my name like that, especially when I'm driving! I'm here, dobe," Sasuke said, returning his hand to the wheel and taking a deep breath. "Shit. I'm right here." Sasuke let his anger fade with the adrenaline as he stared out into the night before them.

"Sorry," Naruto whispered. After a long moment of silence, he added, "I love you too, teme."

"What?" Sasuke asked. "What do you mean?"

"Huh? Um, I don't know." Naruto laughed. "I just felt like that's what I was supposed to say."

"Oh… so…"

"No! I do love you. I just don't know why I added that 'too'," Naruto said.

Sasuke smiled. "That's because you're psychic. Remember?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I didn't wake up for this shit." He began to search through the radio stations.

"What did you wake up for, then? What did you dream this time?" Sasuke asked. He felt guilty for mocking Naruto. He didn't want to strain things any further.

"Uh… well…" Naruto stopped talking when he settled on a station.

…_empty, luckily. It seems that the owners were out at the time. Unfortunately, the neighbors weren't so lucky. The fire spread to the neighboring apartments, landing the tenants above in the hospital from smoke inhalation and a little girl to the left of the apartment with severe burns. The names of the owners of the apartment are not being released by the police but I do know that their whereabouts are still unknown. A witness has confirmed to me that they are college students. It has been concluded, however, that this was arson. The fire was not accidental. What an unfortunate end to the night. This is Kate on the site of the fire at Grassy Knowles apartment complex where apartment 302 was destroyed signing off. Have a safe morning._

"That," Naruto whispered. "I think I dreamt of _that_."

"What?" Sasuke whispered back in absolute shock. "You _what_?"

"I don't know. It was just fire. The whole dream was just fire and when I woke up I had this urge to listen to the news. If I hadn't done that… we…" Naruto hesitated.

"We wouldn't know that someone burnt down our fucking apartment," Sasuke finished.

"Get off here," Naruto commanded. "I think we should get some sleep."

"We?" Sasuke snorted. "You have been sleeping this whole time. _I_ need sleep. I don't even know if I _can_ sleep. Someone burnt down our damn apartment," Sasuke said as he pulled into the parking lot of a motel. He parked the car in a parking spot. "Fuck, Naruto." He dropped his forehead heavily to the steering wheel. "Fuck."

Naruto rubbed Sasuke's back comfortingly. "I know. I'll just go get us a room. I'll be back."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted and Naruto left.

When Naruto returned, Sasuke had already gotten their bags out of the trunk. "302"—Naruto laughed—"we parked right in front of it."

"Hn… How fitting," Sasuke said sarcastically.

They grabbed their things and entered the room. Sasuke immediately crossed the room and slumped lazily onto the bed, face first. He groaned loudly. "What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know," Naruto said quietly and he sat down beside Sasuke on the bed.

"Naruto," Sasuke began as he sat up, "you have this dream about Tsunade and then have all these feelings that we should get out of town and then you decide to pack our bags for fucking weeks and then we leave and you dream about fire and then our apartment is burnt down… purposely."

"Yeah," Naruto said, "I know."

"Naruto, this is ridiculous. I cannot believe I'm saying this but say you _can_ dream the future, that would mean that… that…" Sasuke was struggling to find the words.

"I know," Naruto said, looking down glumly. "We're going to split up, eventually."

"No… that's not what I was saying," Sasuke said quietly, almost scornfully.

"Oh! Uhhh…" Naruto sputtered nervously. "Uhhh… Uhhhhh…" _Fuck, I really am going to be the death of us,_ Naruto thought.

"Shut up. You also said that we shouldn't leave anything precious behind." Naruto was watching Sasuke talk but held very little interest in what he was actually saying. _I love Sasuke,_ he was thinking. "But the only thing you took was that box"—Naruto licked his lips—"that Itachi gave me," Sasuke finished.

"Yeah," Naruto answered but his voice was filling with lust. The way Sasuke's lips moved was enticing and he had no desire for talking right now. He wanted to capture those lips with his own.

"Yeah, so maybe this has something to do—" Naruto leaned in and kissed him lightly. "Naruto! Maybe it has to do with"—Naruto kissed him again, causing him to lean further back, but Sasuke tried to talk through the kissing—"with"—Naruto kissed him again and this time Sasuke really wanted to kiss back as he reclined a little further, trying to escape. _Fuck, dobe,_ Sasuke thought—"with my"—Naruto kissed him yet again and Sasuke kissed back to appease the blond. Heat started to warm his groin as he was forced to lay further back on the bed—"with my family," he finally finished. Naruto now had Sasuke successfully reclined on the bed.

"Mhm," Naruto moaned as he went in for the kill. He kissed Sasuke passionately and Sasuke met Naruto with passion of his own. The conversation was important but Sasuke didn't really care anymore. He just wanted to kiss his blond raving lunatic. He wanted to kiss him long and hard, so he did.

Sasuke used his arms to position Naruto on top of him and tilted his head slightly to the side to allow the kiss to deepen. Naruto then slipped his tongue out to meet lightly with Sasuke's lower lip. Sasuke sighed at the tickling contact and parted his lips in acceptance. Naruto let his tongue slip through and begin a war with Sasuke's. As their kiss intensified, Sasuke could feel blood rushing to his groin. He moved his hips slightly in a request for more action. Naruto replied by rolling his hips and pressing their growing erections together through the barrier of their pants. It wasn't exactly what Sasuke was aching for but it was much better than nothing. Naruto broke the kiss and smiled. Sasuke was always hasty to get to the good part and Naruto really didn't feel like dragging it out, either. He leaned back and removed Sasuke's hideous shirt. Sasuke slid his pale fingers gently up Naruto's sides until Naruto removed his own shirt, too.

Normally, Naruto would torture Sasuke but he was dying for more contact himself. They hadn't been intimate in a while due to Naruto's dreams and Sasuke's resulting sour attitude. He just couldn't hold back this time. He needed to be close to Sasuke. He unbuttoned Sasuke's pants hastily and Sasuke licked his lips hungrily. "Yes," Sasuke whispered, almost hissed like a snake. This egged Naruto on further. He lifted himself off of the bed to remove Sasuke's pants and boxers. He was pleased at the sight of Sasuke's weeping erection. It didn't take much to turn Sasuke fully on tonight. Though, it never really did. Naruto was about to move back on top of Sasuke when Sasuke reached out a palm to stop him. He gestured to Naruto's clothes, silently commanding him to remove them. Naruto smiled and complied. Sasuke moaned happily at the sight of Naruto naked.

Naruto was back on top of Sasuke in a short moment, kissing his chest wildly. He was sucking and nipping at Sasuke's nipples, causing Sasuke to take in sharp breaths until Sasuke flipped Naruto onto his back so that Sasuke was straddling him. He wasn't feeling especially patient. He leaned down to kiss Naruto's neck as he wrapped a hand around Naruto's cock. He began to pump it gently and Naruto groaned in approval. Naruto then grabbed Sasuke's erection and began to pump in time with Sasuke. Soon the heat in Naruto's abdomen was almost unbearable. He needed more. Naruto's free hand snaked around to grab Sasuke's black locks and tugged them roughly so that he could see into Sasuke's deep eyes.

"More," he growled in a low whisper.

Sasuke moaned in response, "We don't have any—"

"Fuck it," Naruto said. "I'll bottom then. I don't care." His voice was husky and he just wanted to be closer to Sasuke. If it meant taking a rough ride on the bottom, he really didn't care. He needed this encounter with Sasuke and he had taken rough rides before. He handled it better than Sasuke. Sasuke was more of a top, anyway. Naruto liked it either way.

Sasuke nodded and repositioned himself to that he now sat between Naruto's legs instead of straddling him. Naruto closed his eyes and Sasuke coated his fingers with saliva as best that he could. He held a breath of anticipation for Naruto and gingerly probed one finger into Naruto's hole. "Don't be shy," Naruto laughed at Sasuke, "I can take it." Sasuke smirked at his lover and inserted another bold finger. He didn't move it much right away, as he noticed Naruto's eyes clenched in pain. He was only acting tough. Sasuke could tell. To make it easier on him, Sasuke moved his body further down and positioned his face above Naruto's groin. As he began to gently move his fingers inside Naruto he took his length in his mouth and began to suck fervently. Naruto sighed with pleasure but his breath was shaking with pain.

Sasuke sucked harder on Naruto's dick and Naruto's moans grew louder. The pain was subsiding and it was turning into pure pleasure. Sasuke finally made contact with Naruto's prostate, causing Naruto's entire body to tense up and his back to arch. The sight was extremely arousing to Sasuke and he sucked Naruto's even harder. Naruto hands were gripping the sheets tightly and was barely able to spit out, "Fuck… Fuck… Fuck it, Sasuke… More!" Sasuke groaned against Naruto's dick. He loved the way Naruto talked in bed. It was the biggest turn on for him. The vibrations elicited a loud whimper from Naruto's mouth and Sasuke groaned again. He inserted another finger and Naruto clenched up at the pain.

A few more minutes of Sasuke pleasuring his dick and assaulting his prostate, the pain had subsided back into pleasure. Naruto was panting hard and Sasuke was sure that he could only take this torture for a little while longer. He needed some attention of his own. Finally Naruto had enough. "Sa-Sasuke… I can't… I need… Fuck… Just fuck me!" Sasuke promptly released Naruto dick and moved into position. He spat down on his dick a couple of times for lubrication.

"Nghh…" Sasuke groaned. He wanted to be inside Naruto but he didn't want to hurt him. "Naruto…"

"It's okay, Sasuke," Naruto responded. Sasuke's dark eyes met Naruto's pleading, blue orbs. "Just fuck me."

Sasuke smirked as he leaned down to kiss Naruto passionately. He pumped Naruto's seeping cock a few times to let the pleasure build up before the pain. He finally got up the courage and began to push himself into Naruto's opening. Naruto's back arched and Sasuke pumped his dick harder to take off some of the edge. Naruto groaned deeply when Sasuke was finally in halfway. "Move it," Naruto demanded and Sasuke complied. He began to thrust shallowly into Naruto, being careful to pay special attention to pumping his dick just the way that he knew Naruto liked it.

Naruto eventually relaxed below Sasuke and Sasuke had room to advance. He leaned up and grabbed Naruto by the hip with his free hand as he began to thrust deeper into the blond. After a few tentative deep thrusts, Naruto was ready for more. "Deeper," he begged. Sasuke's chest rumbled with a moan filled with pleasure. Naruto felt so good around him. It was pure satisfaction to finally be together like this again after so long. Sasuke hadn't really realized how long it had been before tonight. He began to pound harder into Naruto as he relocated his prostate. Naruto howled in pleasure and Sasuke focused his efforts on that spot without taking too much attention from pumping his dick.

"Sa-Sa-Sasuke," Naruto breathed as he grabbed Sasuke's hand that was pumping him, "no more… I'll… I'll… cum… if you… do…" Sasuke looked down at Naruto. His eyes were closed and his brows were scrunched in pleasure. His lips were parted seductively, allowing moans and whimpers to escape freely. The sight of Naruto was absolutely arousing and Sasuke gripped his hips firmly and began to thrust with more effort. He kept his eyes on the blond beneath him. Seeing Naruto like this brought him to a new high. He started moaning with Naruto, even though he normally avoided it because it made him feel like a cheap whore. He couldn't help himself, though. He was nearing climax and this experience was like none before. He felt like something deeper was happening between the two. It was like the pleasure was doubled this time around.

"Naruto," Sasuke began, "I'm gonna—"

Sasuke was interrupted by Naruto's cry. "Me too!"

Sasuke allowed a loud moan to escape as he wrapped a hand around Naruto's erection. He always had to cum second when he topped since Naruto would never let him when he bottomed. He had to focus on pumping the way Naruto liked it and, as a result, his thrusts became erratic. His own brows knitted in pleasure and he wasn't sure he could hold it in much longer. Just as he was about to lose his resolve, Naruto came with a shout of pleasure all over his stomach. Sasuke came just seconds later inside Naruto. He kept moving lazily inside the blond as he came down from his post-climax high. His eyes were closed in ecstasy. He finally stopped moving and removed himself to lay beside Naruto.

Naruto had already come out of his after glow and was admiring Sasuke. "I love you, Sasuke. I love you a lot."

Sasuke smiled, eyes still closed. "I love you, too."

Naruto moved to lean his head on Sasuke's shoulder as he traced circles on Sasuke's stomach with his finger. "Before we shower, I just want to say that I don't _know _what's going on, Sasuke. I'm just glad you're here with me."

Sasuke smiled. He opened his eyes and kissed Naruto affectionately on the top of his head. "I wouldn't be anywhere else, Naruto. We're connected," he whispered, "and nothing could break that."


	7. Chapter 7: Breath

**Chapter Seven: Breath**

Naruto lay with his arms resting behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. Luckily, there was extra bedding stashed in the bedside table so he and Sasuke didn't have to sleep in the evidence of their previous encounter. Naruto stared up into the darkness and likened it to what he now felt in his heart. He sighed quietly. It was dark in Naruto's heart but not completely black. It was too dark to feel comfortable with where he was but not quite dark enough to be completely disabling. Just like it wasn't too dark to see Sasuke right now. _Sasuke_. Naruto turned his head to regard his partner. A smile eased across his lips as he watched Sasuke's sleeping form beside him.

Sasuke seemed to be almost exactly how Sasuke explained Naruto to be at night. Naruto was always the first to fall asleep and the last to wake up. Sasuke would explain Naruto as greedy. Naruto would wrap himself up in the bedding and bury his face deep into the pillows, leaving nearly nothing for Sasuke to cover himself with. Sasuke always found reprieve in the middle of the night, though. By then, Naruto would be spread out haphazardly across the bed, arms and legs tangling with Sasuke's and the bedding would be thrown off of him. Sasuke would watch Naruto sleep, partly because the blond was rather cute in his slumber but mostly because only an hour or so into his dreams would Naruto finally release the bedding to Sasuke. Going to sleep any sooner than that meant having to snuggle up to the blond in his nest of bedding. Sasuke didn't mind being close to Naruto like that but lately Naruto had been rather violent with his dreams and snuggling up to him wasn't exactly enticing. Sasuke felt safer waiting for the blond to sink deeper into his dreams before daring to unravel him and wrap himself in the newly freed bedding for the little bit of often interrupted slumber he ever got. This new routine had Sasuke up watching Naruto sleep much more often than he used to but Naruto didn't mind. It was comforting in a way.

The way that Sasuke would detail Naruto as messy made Naruto think that Sasuke must sleep neatly tucked in. He probably didn't move an inch during the night. Naruto now knew that this wasn't the case, though. Sasuke was cocooned in the blankets the same way that he would describe Naruto to be. He lay on his side facing Naruto, his head greedily placed on three pillows, leaving Naruto with only one. The ironic scene caused Naruto to chuckle quietly. If only Sasuke could see himself right now. He was as greedy a sleeper as Naruto was. He probably just waited for Naruto to get comfy at night so he could steal all the blankets for himself. Naruto didn't wake up half uncovered because he threw the bedding off at night. Sasuke probably stole it from him.

Sasuke was always a beautiful sight to behold but he was truly blissful in his slumber. Naruto found himself wondering why he didn't watch Sasuke sleep more often. He was so real and unhindered in this state. His emotions would dance across his face as he dreamt and as Naruto admired him, he wondered what Sasuke might be dreaming about. There would be a slight knitting of his brows followed by a soft whimper that would escape from his throat. A smile would play softly at his lips before crumpling into a frown. Naruto wasn't one to stay up after Sasuke but their earlier activities and Sasuke's lack of sleep had Sasuke out like a light bulb the second that he hit the sheets. Naruto let him steal a pillow and snatch up all the bedding, too. He knew he probably wouldn't be sleeping anyway. There was too much to ponder. Naruto tried to continue the conversation Sasuke was trying to have with him earlier in his mind with himself but his mind kept wandering back to Sasuke. Naruto drawled in a long, deep breath and let it end with a grin before releasing it.

Sasuke's light and airy breath traveled to tickle Naruto's ears as Sasuke slept and the sound was soothing to Naruto. This was a sound he would remember for the rest of his life. It would be a sound that would warm Naruto's dreams from this day forward. Naruto found it interesting that he hadn't stumbled upon it in all the years they had known each other. How was he just now realizing the way Sasuke's breath calmed him? Naruto decided he had to pay more attention to Sasuke. That was the problem. He didn't devote enough time to merely loving his partner. He didn't spend enough hours admiring Sasuke and picking out the things that he liked most about him. He spent too much time on his self. Naruto was suddenly aware of how dangerously low his lids had dropped as he mindlessly admired Sasuke's sleepy face. That beautiful rhythm of life that was Sasuke's breath had brought him to the edge of his own dreamy escape. Naruto shook his head sharply. _Focus._ He wanted to stay awake. He wanted to admire Sasuke more but before that, he wanted to find answers for everything. He wanted to find answers for Sasuke.

Why were they here? Who really is Tsunade? Who burnt down their apartment? What do Naruto's dreams even mean? What does Sasuke's family have to do with any of this? Why is this even happening to Naruto? Naruto inevitably floated off track back to his own childhood. Why does anything happen to Naruto? His eyes studied the ceiling as he pondered. _Why me?_ _Why was I stuck with such a wretched life? Why did I have to have such hard times? Why? All those memories…_ Naruto became very aware of a gap in his memories. He remembered the faces of his parents very clearly—or, at least, his father because his mother was somewhat of a mystery whose face was always blurred and uncertain, ever changing—and he remembered the day that they died—or maybe just he, being his father—but he couldn't remember a damn thing that they did together. He felt good things for his parents but why? Why, when he couldn't even retain one good memory? He couldn't even recall anything _bad_. There was nothing, nothing at all. It was like the first few years of his life were completely empty.

He _did_ remember that foster family, though. He remembered how great he felt at first when the old man would praise him in the beginning. He remembered how that praise slowly turned into something else, something different, and something very wrong. He remembered how dirty he felt because of that bastard but there were gaps there, too. For some reason, Naruto couldn't remember a single thing that they spoke about. He remembered what that man did to him but never what came before. He thought he could remember them talking about things, the old man's job maybe. Naruto couldn't pin it down but there was definitely something that happened before those encounters. He didn't know what it was but he got the feeling that it was the same thing every time. Why couldn't he remember? Why was he suddenly so aware of the fact that his memories are all gone?

He could understand locking away traumatizing memories subconsciously but… _that's it. That must be it. That must be why he did all that stuff to me, to make me forget whatever came before. That, and he was a perv._ A shudder fell over Naruto's body. Whatever that pervert was trying to make Naruto forget must have been worse than _how_ he made Naruto forget. Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to know. _I don't even think I want those memories back. Whatever they are, they've got to be horrible._ _Enough of that,_ Naruto thought. _What about Sasuke. How does he fit? Of course, Sasuke is the closest person to me so if this is all about me then he'd surely be dragged in but… hm…_ Naruto couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't about him. He felt like it was about Sasuke. _Why else would that therapist have his family's crest? Why else would I dream about her wanting him, not me? She wants to dispose of me. Sasuke must be the goal and I must be what's getting in the way. This is all about Sasuke and…_ Naruto looked with concern at Sasuke. _I have to protect him from… from… hm… from what?_ Naruto returned his eyes back to the ceiling. "Everything," he whispered to himself. _I have to protect him from everything._

_I already know that these are visions. There's no way they're just dreams. I dreamt of Tsunade planning to come after us and next thing you know, I'm packing us up and moving us out and rightfully so, too. I dreamt of fire and then next thing you know, our apartment is burnt down. That has to be connected to Tsunade. Which means it's connected to Sasuke's family but why?_ Naruto's thoughts were interrupted by Sasuke shifting slightly in his sleep. Naruto looked at Sasuke and found himself remembering a picture that Sasuke had once shown Naruto of Itachi only after Naruto's relentless begging. Was it a crime to be curious about Sasuke's past? _They look so much alike,_ Naruto thought. _Itachi! That box! Hm,_ Naruto pondered. _We've got to get inside that box but how? We could break it. No. Even if he won't admit it, it's important to him. I don't want to destroy it. I just want to figure it out._

Naruto sighed. Figuring things out was hard. He had only decided that the dreams were actually premonitions and he was sure that they had to follow wherever the dreams lead them. They would, hopefully, lead them to more answers. Perhaps, they would lead to a key. They needed to get inside that box to understand. Naruto was positive that Itachi left it for Sasuke as more than a keepsake. There must be some answers in it. There just must be. What was Tsunade's objective, though, and who was she working with? Why was she working with them? Why do they want Sasuke? Why is Naruto in the way? Why does she need to dispose of him? Naruto knew the answers to those last two questions, though. Naruto somehow could see things and that was already making it difficult for them to get their hands on Sasuke. It must have something to do with the inner eye Tsunade mentioned. What could that be? How were he and Sasuke suppose to know what to do? It was all so confusing. _I dreamt of__ death, too._ Naruto winced as he spoke the words in his mind._ This could get us tied up in some scary stuff. Someone is really going to die. Maybe our bond isn't going to break. Maybe... Maybe that really was us. Maybe Sasuke really is going to die. Maybe… Maybe I'm…_

"Naruto?" Sasuke's voice was meek.

Naruto snapped out of thought as Sasuke sat upright in the bed to look at him. "Huh? What Sasuke?"

"Nothing," Sasuke said quietly after a long pause in which he appeared to greatly contemplate his response. He shifted his gaze and opened his mouth to speak before shutting it again. He decided to lay back down, instead. This time turning his back to Naruto.

Naruto noted Sasuke's strange behavior. It's not like Sasuke was open with his emotions, even with Naruto but he was never this weird about them. Naruto shifted onto his side and tugged at Sasuke's shoulder until Sasuke rolled over onto his back. "What is it?" Naruto probed on. Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't do that," Naruto pleaded.

"I just… I… I was… bad dream. That's all." Sasuke averted his eyes as if he was ashamed at the confession. His cheeks flushed a light red and Naruto couldn't help but smile at the sight. Sasuke's embarrassment was adorable.

"I could tell. You've been making weird faces all night."

"What? You were… you were watching me sleep?" Sasuke questioned, the embarrassment rising.

"Well, I wasn't tired and you're so pretty." Sasuke huffed at the statement and Naruto laughed. "You watch me sleep all the time." Sasuke blushed again and caused another chuckle to leave Naruto's chest. "You're really cute sometimes, Sasuke." He tried, but Sasuke couldn't push down the smile tugging at his lips. Naruto leaned in and kissed that smile softly. He whispered against Sasuke's lips, "I'm here with you, so just roll over and go back to sleep."

Sasuke didn't try obstruct the next smile that rolled over his lips as he leaned up to capture Naruto in another gentle kiss. Then, he rolled back over on his side. After a long moment of laying there, he peeked over his shoulder to see Naruto admiring him with a complacent grin. Sasuke smirked as he reached over and pulled Naruto close to cuddle him. Naruto nestled up behind Sasuke and nudged his nose into the back of Sasuke's neck where he planted light, comforting kisses. Sasuke squeezed Naruto's arm tightly against his chest before letting out a long, content sigh. Pretty soon, Sasuke's breath had calmed back into the sweet rhythm that Naruto so loved. He was reveling in the warmth of Sasuke and basking in his scent. He wanted to stay like this forever. He didn't want to lose this moment but before he could will himself back to consciousness, he was slipping into sleep guided by the soft breath barely escaping Sasuke's lips. It was the perfect way to fall asleep.

All of the earlier thoughts of darkness is his heart had faded away. Sasuke cut through it like a sharp blade. Sasuke was Naruto's light. Sasuke was the freeing sensation that washed over Naruto and, as long as Sasuke would be there, the darkness would be fleeting. The darkness would stand no chance.


	8. Chapter 8: Ruminations

**A/N:** I'm thinking that some lovemaking will make an appearance next chapter. It's about due for some yaoi ;) If anyone has any ideas or suggestions or requests, please let me know!

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**Chapter Eight: Ruminations**

Naruto awoke from his sleep serenely, for once. To his delight, the curtains were still drawn, blocking all but a sliver of sunlight from assaulting his unprepared eyes. The room remained plunged in forgiving darkness, allowing him to wake slowly and peacefully. He took a few long moments to gradually retreat from the comfort of a dream… Wait, what? Comfort? Had Naruto really just slept through the night without a nightmare or, rather, premonition?

He reached an arm languidly behind him in search of Sasuke, finding nothing but bedding. Sasuke's soft voice floated to Naruto's ears from across the room, "Awake, are we?"

Naruto propped himself up lazily on his elbows, straining to locate Sasuke through the darkness as he grunted quietly in response.

"Well, maybe." Naruto could hear a smile in Sasuke's voice. "You _have_ been known the grunt at me multiple times in your sleep. You're never really awake until you can form a sentence of five words, at least."

"Shut up," Naruto commanded sourly, yet, somewhat meekly.

He wasn't _actually_ angry with Sasuke's harmless teasing. He couldn't be. Sasuke's energy was just so inviting and playful right now. His voice was soft and endearing. He was clearly sporting a smile so broad and genuine that Naruto was surprised it didn't shine right through the darkness. It was downright impossible not to be drawn to him like a magnet, even when Naruto couldn't see him. Naruto took notice that there was a dusty light cast over himself that didn't quite make it to Sasuke's half of the room, thus, making it hard to see Sasuke and, certainly, very easy to see himself. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the lighting, though, and Naruto cracked a smile toward the spot where Sasuke's outline began to take shape.

"I'm still not sure. That was only two words," Sasuke jested, his voice still soft as ever.

Naruto chuckled lightly as he leaned back down on the bed. "Maybe I should just go back to sleep," he quipped.

"There's the magic," Sasuke declared playfully, "seven whole words." The smile in his voice had evolved into a light chuckle.

"Eight," Naruto corrected, his smile widening, "it was"—Naruto yawned—"eight."

Naruto was feeling quite complacent with the morning's banter. He closed his eyes contentedly and found himself unintentionally trying to remember what he had dreamt about. His thoughts, however, were interrupted before they even had a chance to begin as he felt Sasuke climbing onto the mattress like a cat. He slid up Naruto's body until he was positioned over top of Naruto to lie straddling one of Naruto's legs and resting his elbows on either side of Naruto's ears. His lips came to rest tantalizingly close to Naruto's. He allowed his warm breath wash over Naruto's lips as he released a couple of very enticing breaths before speaking.

"I like you better awake, though. It's more in my favor." A smile crept across Sasuke's face, more easily seen at this distance in this dusty light, as his dark eyes lured Naruto out into total consciousness. It was impossible not to be plucked away from any and every thing when trapped in that gaze. Naruto's lips twitched into a desirous smirk as he moved his hands to gently glide down the toned muscles of Sasuke's back. His fingers came to rest just underneath the waistband of Sasuke's boxers, wordlessly expressing his wishes to his partner. A typically very sexual gesture took on some new—yet, old—and deeper meaning that Sasuke understood completely. Though, he hadn't been faced with it in what he now recognized to be far too long of a space in time.

Sasuke complied graciously, reducing the space between their lips to nothingness and moving his in tandem with Naruto's. His tongue slipped out to glide lightly across Naruto's bottom lip, awarding him with with a soft, content moan. Naruto mirrored Sasuke's caress with his own tongue but retreated, not really yearning for the embrace to go much further. He was content to just continue this way with kisses that weren't hasty or rushed, as was Sasuke. Bristling with passion as it ever was, it was a different kind of passion that the two had not shared in a long while.

It was a sweet display of affection that felt long overdue. It was something that both boys had long missed but had been too wrapped up in themselves and their pride to realize or admit that they were missing it. It was like trading little licks of love, leading to nothing but further expanses of that love, as opposed to the usual, detached sex that their kissing lead to. Their relationship had regressed to a point where they didn't kiss just to kiss anymore, denoting an obvious strain in their relationship. It was starting to feel like they were just sex partners and everything else was simply foreplay and so it felt really good to kiss each other so tenderly like this _just_ to kiss, _just_ because they wanted to.

Naruto retracted suddenly from the exchange, shutting his eyes tightly as a flash of blinding light resonated through his head. The light faded for a fraction of a moment before returning and causing him to wince quietly against the pain. He turned his head sharply away from Sasuke's and then back again, as if he could shake the pulsing out.

"Are you alright?" asked Sasuke softly, worry slipping slowly into his voice.

The pain returned with twice the intensity and caused Naruto to dig a palm into his eye in an attempt to ease it.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke inquired immediately with more concern.

Naruto winced loudly as the pulsing intensified even further, prompting him to dig his free palm roughly into his other eye, though, in vain. He jerked his body to roll over onto his side, throwing Sasuke off of him and to the other side of the bed.

"Naruto!" Sasuke exclaimed. "What's wrong?" His voice was filling with fear.

The flashes pulsed brighter and quicker and Naruto screamed to refute the sensation. It was all he felt like he could do to keep his head from exploding. He rolled over even further onto his stomach, bringing his knees up into his chest and tensing every muscle in his body.

"Naru—" Sasuke began before being silenced by an angry hand flying to smack him in the face. He tried to dodge but couldn't escape it completely. He howled with pain in response to the blow that landed pretty squarely and forcefully on his temple.

"SHUT UP!" commanded Naruto gruffly. Sasuke's voice only seemed to be making things worse. The pain in his head was now obliterating him.

Sasuke gaped with shock as he rubbed his face tenderly. Part of him wanted to be angry with Naruto but he also understood that Naruto was in obvious pain and, frankly, he may have done the same thing to Naruto if it was him. The pain on _his_ face was fleeting. In fact, it was already dulling. The pain in Naruto's head was not so relenting. He thought about calling 911 but he wasn't exactly sure what was even happening. He rubbed soothing circles into Naruto's back, instead, as he fretted about what to do next. Upon contact, Naruto immediately stopped screaming, breaking Sasuke's mental panic. Sasuke leaned carefully in closer to peer at Naruto's face. Upon doing so, Sasuke placed his other hand gently on Naruto's arm to rub it. Naruto relaxed his muscles further with the touch. He was panting heavily as he pulled his legs back to lie flat on his stomach, his face still buried in his hands.

"Naruto?" Sasuke whispered, very wary of whether he would be smacked again or not. He lay himself down on his side beside Naruto, removing his hand from his arm but continuing to rub his back all the while.

Finally, Naruto removed his face from his hands and rolled over onto his side to face Sasuke, scooting in close to his partner. The pain had passed but his face was still somewhat scrunched up in the aftermath. He peered deep into Sasuke's eyes, as if he was searching for something that he was sure he would find there. He spent a few long moments scrutinizing Sasuke relentlessly before Sasuke finally spoke.

"H-Have I done something?" asked Sasuke tentatively, being sure to keep his voice down.

Naruto relaxed his face, giving up on his quest for whatever lay deep within the confines of Sasuke's soul. "No," he whispered, clearly disheartened, as he averted his eyes. He, truthfully, felt pretty stupid for even doing that. Just what _was_ he looking for? More importantly, just what _was_ it that just happened to him and why did it feel like it was Sasuke's fault when Naruto knew very well that it wasn't? At least, he thought he did. What was he looking for? What was happening? What of Sasuke? What was he hiding? Who said Sasuke was even hiding anything? What was Naruto _even looking for_? He groaned audibly with frustration as his mind raced on in confusing circles.

"Naruto, what… what is it?" Sasuke questioned, alarm present in his tone. Naruto had just experienced some sort of attack and now he was acting like Sasuke had done something wrong. Had he spoken too much? Should he not talk at all anymore? Ludicrous ideas were whirling through his mind, desperately searching for something, _anything_ he could do to make Naruto feel better. He felt inexplicably responsible for this.

"I don't know, Sasuke," said Naruto, annoyance lying as an undertone. "My head just started hurting and you were…" Naruto stopped, as if he decided that what he was going to say was better left unsaid.

"What? Am I annoying you?" Sasuke asked with a bit of heat to his tone but Naruto could tell he was really hurt rather than angry.

"No," Naruto groaned, equal parts sympathetic and irritated. The annoyance he felt at the situation was quickly turning into annoyance felt for Sasuke. "Not… Not now, anyway."

"But I was? I _was_ annoying you as I was only _trying_ to _help_?"

Naruto heaved a heavy sigh. He knew there was no kind way to say this but it was the truth and was to be said. Sasuke would take it badly no matter what. _Better just get it over with,_ he decided in his head. "Your voice was making it worse… way worse," he said bluntly.

Sasuke stopped rubbing Naruto's back and his face fell blank, completely unreadable. He opened his mouth a few times before shutting it, unable to form a response. Naruto watched the display, feeling pretty bad for having said what he had said. Finally, Sasuke found the words. "Well I'm sorry I cause you physical pain." The tone in Sasuke's voice was so genuinely pained that Naruto winced, as if Sasuke had just screamed at him. He felt a strong pang of guilt. He definitely had not _intended_ to hurt Sasuke's feelings.

"Noooo. No, that's not it. I don't… I don't know what it _is_. It just…" Naruto sighed with exasperation. Just how had they gone from Naruto clearly being the victim to him being the wrong-doer? It wasn't _his_ fault Sasuke's voice was making things worse. It wasn't _his_ fault his head started to explode. It wasn't _anyone's_ fault! He didn't even know what the hell had just happened to him, let alone _why_ it had happened or _why_ Sasuke's talking felt like nails being hammered into his head! "My head just…" The words began to fly hastily from his lips. "It just started hurting and then you were talking and then it was hurting more and then you were talking more and I just wanted you to stop. I wanted it _all_ to stop and then… and then… then…" He was struggling to find his voice as he peered into the glum eyes of his partner.

"Then it just stopped when I just shut up?" Sasuke finished the sentence despondently. He was trying not to blame Naruto for that. Naruto couldn't help what his head was doing or how Sasuke's voice was affecting it. He didn't want to push Naruto into a guilt trip but he couldn't hide the dejection in his voice. He truly was hurt.

"No," Naruto responded quietly, realizing he was fighting a battle he really couldn't win. He _did_ just tell Sasuke that he was, more or less, annoying him in a moment when he was really only trying to help. You can't get around that. Naruto decided to try a different approach. _Tell Sasuke what good he **did** do for_ _you,_ he thought to himself. "Actually, Sasuke, it stopped when you touched me." Sasuke stared into Naruto's eyes, unconvinced. "Seriously," Naruto continued, "when you started rubbing my back it was like instant relief. The more you touched me, the less painful it was. It just stopped when you got close." Naruto moved his hand up to gently stroke Sasuke's cheek. "I mean it. I really do." He _really_ did, too. He _did_ want to make Sasuke feel better but it was also the truth. Sasuke _was_ the remedy, even if he was also what made it all worse to begin with but that wasn't Sasuke's fault and Naruto wasn't going to let him think that it was. "It wasn't your fault, Sasuke. If anything, you saved me." He offered a meek smile.

Sasuke heaved a sigh after a long moment. He couldn't refute the genuine glint in Naruto's eye. After all, he couldn't really be mad at Naruto for something he couldn't control. In a state like that, you'd want to punch _anyone_ who was talking to you, right? "Alright… if you say so."

"I do say so," confirmed Naruto immediately with a widening smile.

Sasuke quickly followed in suit. Naruto's smile was downright contagious. It was impossible to escape. "Well," he started in a much brighter tone as he sat up and crossed his legs on the bed, "what _was_ that?"

"I still don't know." Naruto rolled over onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. "It was like something was trying to come to me but it just couldn't. I… this is gonna sound dumb but I thought I could find it in you,"—he turned to look at Sasuke—"in your eyes, I mean."

"So _that's_ why you were staring me down?" asked Sasuke as more of an observation than a question.

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, sorry. I just kind of thought it would pop in my head if I kept looking at you."

"I guess it didn't," said Sasuke.

"No… but it felt directly linked to you or something. I mean, _you_ kiss me and then I get this sudden pain in my head. Then it starts to intensify ridiculously but only when _you're_ talking to me. Then it just stops when _you_ touch me."

Sasuke started feeling responsible again. Naruto was just emphasizing that it was his fault but he pushed those thoughts away. "Well, if it was like a migraine or something, then anyone talking to you would be irritating. I was just the only one in the room to do it."

"No," denied Naruto adamantly, "you didn't feel it. It felt like when you're staring into the sun. It hurts but it's really no big deal. Then you spoke and it doubled, then tripled, and quadrupled until it was just unbearable but it felt like it was programmed to be that way, like _I_ was programmed that way or something. I don't know. It just felt so unique to you, Sasuke. It felt like… like…" Naruto paused, realizing he couldn't adequately express _why_ it felt linked to Sasuke and that he probably just sounded like he was blaming him again. "I don't know," he finished with a disheartened tone, having grown docile. What he was just so sure of suddenly felt so uncertain. Maybe it had nothing to do with Sasuke. Maybe he was just trying so hard to figure it out that he latched on to the first idea he could come up with, even if it was too far-fetched. What _would_ Sasuke have to do with his head exploding?

"Well, I'd like to think that I'm not the direct cause of headaches for you. Being the remedy is something I could get behind, though." Sasuke's voice was light and playful again. It brought Naruto to remember just how intriguing Sasuke's mood was this morning. He never woke up so chipper. At least, he hadn't in a long time. It probably had something to do with him getting a long, full night of sleep but it was like something else was lifting his spirits, too.

"What's up with you, anyway?" Naruto questioned. "You've seemed so… happy all morning."

Sasuke scoffed. "As if I'm never happy?" Slight offense peaked in his voice but it still retained its playfulness. "Are you really going to expect me to wake up angry and brooding after a night like last night?" he questioned as he poked Naruto in the side. His spirits were lifting visibly higher as Sasuke recalled the evening. "It was nice. It's something we haven't shared in a long time and I couldn't help but wake up feeling… great." He smiled wide.

"_Still_ basking in the afterglow?" Naruto smiled, too. Sasuke's mood was rubbing off on him. Truthfully, he felt the same way. It _was_ a wonderful night and it felt great to be back in that great place with Sasuke. "So I didn't wake you last night?" Naruto asked, remembering his far too peaceful awakening.

"Nope," Sasuke nearly sung with pleasure.

"Hm," Naruto mused out loud. "Weird."

"Why? Did you have another dream?" asked Sasuke.

"Premonition," Naruto corrected, "but no, I don't think I did." Naruto paused to think. "Well, I don't know."

"Yeah, weird," Sasuke agreed.

"This is _all_ weird," Naruto pointed out, "everything."

"Well, let's talk it out, then," Sasuke offered. "Come on. I was trying to last night until you jumped my bones. Get up." He twisted around and reached over the edge of the bed for something as Naruto sat up. Sasuke lifted the box that Itachi had given him onto the bed.

Naruto stiffened at the sight of it. "What… I thought… you don't wanna…" Naruto was struggling to form a cohesive sentence. He settled on, "What's that for?" Since Sasuke's reaction to Naruto finding the box, Naruto felt extra wary of it. He didn't want to upset Sasuke. He was already dragging him along on some crazy journey, on which he had no idea what they were actually doing. He didn't want to open closed family wounds, too.

"Well, I figured that it means something. You said so, right?" Naruto nodded slowly. "Well, you're the one who can see the future. You would know better than me." Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, obviously unaware of the weight of the words he had just spoken.

"What?" Naruto questioned, unable to shake the awe from his voice.

Sasuke smiled, quite amused with Naruto's reaction. "Yes, I said it. You can see the future and, Naruto," he continued on a more serious tone, "I trust you completely. I'll follow you anywhere because I love you." He placed a reassuring hand on Naruto's hand and rubbed it with his thumb. "If you say you can see the future, I believe you. Anything you believe, I believe because _I believe in you_. I'm sorry for having doubted you to begin with."

"S-Sasuke, I… I… I don't know…" stammered Naruto.

"Don't know what to say? Yeah, I'm not surprised. I've been pretty prickly about it s—"

"No," Naruto interrupted firmly, "I don't know what the hell is happening to me, let alone if you should actually have any faith in me." Knowing that Sasuke had finally invested in Naruto like he had been wishing Sasuke would do this whole time actually had the opposite effect that Naruto expected it would have. He remembered that the strain on their relationship only started with his premonitions. He suddenly felt guilty for ruining the perfectly happy, normal life that they had previously been sharing. All Naruto ever wanted to do was make Sasuke happy but he felt like he hadn't done that in a while. Now, Sasuke was just going along with Naruto's charades, whatever they were. Naruto had dragged him into a reality of insanity and Sasuke deserved better. Sasuke deserved the old life that they shared and both so desperately missed, even if they didn't want to admit to missing it.

"Please," Sasuke nearly scoffed, not missing a beat, as if Naruto's words were insulting. "I could never have anything _but_ faith in you." He smiled warmly at Naruto. "Of course you don't know what the fuck is going on and neither do I but you _do_ have clues." He slapped Naruto's knee in attempt at motivation. "So let's get to analyzing them!"

Naruto allowed a smile to climb to the surface. "Okay," he agreed. He couldn't help but feel better. Maybe he didn't know what was happening to him or what _would_ happen to Sasuke. Maybe this all _was_ crazy but he felt like it would be okay, in the end. They had each other, after all. That was all Naruto really needed, just Sasuke. "So… we know that you are the target," Naruto began.

"Me?" exclaimed Sasuke incredulously. "How!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Honestly, have you listened to anything I've been saying? I dreamt that Tsunade was talking on the phone to someone saying that they just _had_ to have _you_ and that _you_ were their only hope."

"What does that mean?" Sasuke wondered aloud.

"Pffft, fuck if I know but it definitely has something to do with your family. I mean, the crest she was wearing confirms that your family ties in somehow. I think that maybe your dad was the head of something, something that was supposed to be left to Itachi." Sasuke looked down at Naruto's words and Naruto rubbed Sasuke's arm gently for comfort. "I say that because of all the times your dad took Itachi to work with him. From what Itachi told you, it seemed really sketchy."

"Yeah, definitely. I mean, for the little bit he divulged. There was so much secrecy," added Sasuke.

"Exactly. So maybe… maybe they need a direct heir… like you. Maybe… well, fuck, I don't _know_ but why else would they want you and only you? Why would you be their _last_ hope? You have other family but none of them fit the part, apparently, whatever it is. Do you even know anything about your family business?" questioned Naruto.

"No, I already told you. I wasn't allowed in on the family secrets. I only know the little things that Ita would tell me, which wasn't much. I know Ita hated it, though. He didn't want to do it. That much was obvious. Dad would never let him out of it, though. No way," said Sasuke.

"So that just further proves that it has to be someone in your direct family. Why else would he groom Itachi so thoroughly? It wouldn't normally be the end of the world if you had to pass your business on to a nephew or something. So why so specific with your dad?" Naruto pondered.

"We have no clue," Sasuke stated.

"No, we don't but we do know you're important to them so we should definitely stay away until we, at least, figure out why," Naruto decided. "If only I could just dream about what Tsunade is doing right now. That would be helpful."

Sasuke chuckled lightly. "Well, then we'd better start training you, boy," Sasuke teased, talking as if he was speaking to a dog.

Naruto couldn't ward off the smile, though, as he rolled his eyes. It was rather amusing to witness their roles be so reversed. Sasuke was goofing off as Naruto tried to get things done. "Anyway—"

"Well," Sasuke interrupted, "what about you? This is about you, too."

Naruto sneered. "I'm flattered but—"

"No, seriously. I think it's equally about both of us," Sasuke insisted. "You said she talked about you, too, on the phone."

"Yeah but I'm just in the way. I'm to be disposed of." Naruto gulped as the realization that he's supposed to be killed hit him. "That's why they torched our place, I bet, just to kill me." His mouth was dry and it was hard to swallow but Naruto tried to hide how uncomfortable the thought made him.

Sasuke tried to smile away the uneasiness creeping up his spine but the idea that someone wanted to hurt Naruto was sickening. What would he ever do without him? "Yeah but that might not be related. I mean, they know our relationship and they know that burning our apartment threatens _both_ of us. If they want me so bad then they wouldn't risk burning me alive."

"Good point," Naruto agreed, "so why would they burn the place down, unless it wasn't _them_ but then who the hell would do that?" Naruto lost himself in momentary thought. "Do you have any exes that are _that_ angry?"

Sasuke chuckled but dismissed the question. "Maybe they weren't trying to hurt _either_ of us. I mean, think about it. We were long gone before the place was burnt down."

"Yeah, only cause I had a premonition," Naruto stated matter-of-factly.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah… hm…" Something clicked in Sasuke's brain. "What day is it?"

"Saturday, why?"

"It was this morning, Saturday morning that it was burnt down, then?"

"Yeah…" Naruto's voice filled with confusion. "So?"

"_So_ what do we usually do on Saturday mornings?" Sasuke probed.

"Go for a workout, if you can wake me up," said Naruto.

"Yes and when do we usually get home?" Sasuke prompted.

"I don't know!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well not before nine, that's for sure," Sasuke informed.

"Okay," said Naruto, clearly not seeing the relevance of this information.

"Naruto, our place was on the news at eight. We're usually out of the house by seven."

"I don't get what you're saying, Sasuke," Naruto pointed out impatiently.

"I'm saying that they must have _meant_ to do it when we were gone. They expected us to be out like we normally are. They probably weren't trying to kill us. They knew we'd be gone," explained Sasuke.

"But I don't _always_ go with you. How do you know they weren't expecting me to stay home and trying to catch me alone?" Naruto argued.

"I don't," Sasuke admitted glumly, "but they've kept you alive this long. They've clearly been watching us for long enough to know that I like to workout every Saturday morning from seven til nine and that I like to drag you along when I can. They also made sure that you and I would see Tsunade. Unless they have every single therapist in the city working for them, I wouldn't say that feat was particularly _easy_. If they went through the work of making sure you got to Tsunade, that means that they are interested in what's going on with you. They would definitely know about your dreams—"

"Premonitions," Naruto corrected.

Sasuke waved a dismissive hand and continued, unperturbed, "_if_ they've been watching us. What did Tsunade say about you on the phone? Didn't you mention that she talked about your"—Naruto gave Sasuke a warning glare—"_premonitions_?"

Naruto smirked with silent triumph as he answered. "Yeah, uh, she said something about me having a third eye or something. I don't remember too well. I was more concerned about her wanting to _kidnap you _and _kill me_."

"Well, this must be something they've been expecting of you, then," Sasuke observed.

"Yeah," Naruto exclaimed, "no, definitely! I remember now that she mentioned that your dad or your brother should have taken care of me when I was a kid. She said they put too much faith in you to reject me."

"Reject you? What the hell?" Sasuke wondered in confusion. "What, have they been monitoring our relationship for _that_ long?"

"I guess we were never meant to be friends," Naruto pointed out.

"But why? What's wrong with that? Why was my father supposed to get rid of you?" Sasuke's mind was reeling. His father was no saint but the idea of him actually intending to _kill_ Naruto was mind-boggling. Perhaps he hadn't intended to, though, seeing as he never actually killed him. This didn't put Sasuke at ease, however. His father being involved in anything that would require him to possibly kill a child, especially Sasuke's _best friend_, was disturbing. What the hell was Sasuke's family involved with?

"I think," Naruto began, bringing Sasuke out of his thoughts, "maybe it's because of this moment right now." Sasuke cocked his head at Naruto. Maybe he was on to something. "I mean, maybe they're afraid or have always been afraid of me doing what I _am_ doing."

Sasuke could see where this was going but he prompted Naruto to continue. "Which is…?"

"Protecting you," Naruto pointed out matter-of-factly. "I mean, come on, Sasuke. I'd do anything to keep you safe, you know that. If they're so interested in us, then they probably know it, too. Not to mention I can, apparently, predict the future. I could potentially see them coming from a mile away and that's obviously an issue. How can get they get to someone who can see their moves before they make them?"

"Good point. You're the buffer and they need to be rid of you to get to me," Sasuke agreed. "That must have been my dad's job, to keep me away from you but why? I still don't get it. I was never meant to inherit the business. I was the black sheep. Why would he care if I was friends with you? It's not like you'd ever pose a threat to them if they never had to chase me down, right? They were never supposed to chase me down. Itachi was supposed to inherit it all. I can't help feeling like there's something more to this."

"Yeah but they're chasing you down now," Naruto pointed out. "I don't know why I was such an issue _back then_ but I do know why I'm an issue _now_ and _that's_ what matters."

"Yeah," Sasuke agreed, "you're right. So they know you can see things and now they need to get rid of you but they must have thought you were valuable or else they would have done it already."

"Nahh," Naruto denied, "I bet they just thought I was harmless. That's what Tsunade was probably for, figuring out how much of a threat I am. She wanted to know how much I was seeing to decide whether I was in the way or not. I guess they've decided that I'm seeing too much."

"So maybe they did burn the place down, hoping to catch you alone." Sasuke's voice filled with mild, poorly concealed panic and his throat tightened. He felt like he wouldn't be able to breathe if Naruto was out of his sight for even a second anymore. All the things that could happen to Naruto in that second were running through Sasuke's head: finding Naruto dead in a ditch, finding Naruto shot in the head, finding Naruto stabbed in the back, finding Naruto behind a dumpster, finding Naruto hit by a car, finding Naruto drowned in a lake. Sasuke gasped desperately as the air grew thicker and more difficult to breathe in. Was he having a panic attack?

"But they didn't!" Naruto exclaimed quickly, attempting to calm Sasuke down. "That's what matters. I'm alive, Sasuke," Naruto comforted with a warm smile, rubbing Sasuke's leg.

"Yeah," Sasuke gasped, as he forced himself to calm down gradually, "y-y-you're alive." Sasuke tried to smile back but it was painfully unconvincing. All of this talk had him worried sick and his worry was rubbing off of Naruto, too, now, making it difficult for Naruto to keep up a good attitude.

"Well, I think Itachi had you in mind all the time," Naruto said, trying to change the subject to something less terrifying. "I think this box has some answers that we need," he said as he tapped the box lightly.

Sasuke heaved a deep sigh to level his breathing out. This topic wasn't exactly _helping_ Sasuke calm down. Sasuke couldn't help but feel abandoned by Itachi. He had, no doubt, done very much for Sasuke after their parents' death but he just disappeared when Sasuke went away to university. The scant updates he sent Sasuke weren't nearly enough and it made Sasuke feel like he'd done something wrong to push Itachi away. He couldn't help it if he sometimes wanted his brother around. He still felt like a child on the inside. He felt like the annoying little boy that his big brother didn't want to play with.

"Well, he didn't leave me with a key or anything, so whatever is inside the box might not even be meant for me," Sasuke pointed out, somewhat hopeful. He didn't really want to know what was in the box. The ignorance helped him keep a distance from Itachi. He didn't want to feel too attached to Itachi because the inevitable space between their two worlds would make that excruciating, as if it wasn't painful enough already.

Naruto nodded, theories racing through his head that he left unsaid. He understood how touchy the subject of Itachi could be. "Well, we need a key. End of story. Someone has it and we'll get it." Naruto lifted Sasuke's chin until their eyes met, offering him a smile. Sasuke, overcome with emotion for Naruto, pulled him in for a kiss. Naruto was just beginning to smile against Sasuke's lips when the bright light invaded his head again. He retreated quickly from the kiss.

"Naruto?" Sasuke questioned.

"No," Naruto growled as the pulsing in his head intensified and he clenched his eyes shut, pressing his hands against his temples.

"Oh!" Sasuke exclaimed, understanding what was happening. He then kicked himself internally, remembering he wasn't supposed to talk, only touch. He grabbed Naruto by the wrists loosely. To his surprise, Naruto pulled away from the contact. "What?" Sasuke began to question before Naruto's cry of pain stopped him. Sasuke tried to touch Naruto's arm but Naruto flopped over on the bed and rolled away from him. Sasuke wanted to yell at Naruto for purposely avoiding his touch but he knew he couldn't yell. He decided to try a gentle whisper in the form of Naruto's name. Naruto's response was another painful yelp that caused him to retreat further away from Sasuke. Feeling bad, Sasuke whispered an apology. "I'm sorry."

Naruto's breath caught in his throat before growing ragged. The white light was pulsing so quickly now that it was nearly solid and he could see quick flashes of pictures in his mind. He had been evading Sasuke for this sole purpose. He wanted to see the pictures. He wanted to understand but the pain was now unbearable. Then, he felt Sasuke's hands at his sides, gripping him tightly. He leaned into the touch. Sasuke's warmth seemed to be leaking into him, bringing him back to reality. He could feel himself growing less and less tense. His breathing was evening out slowly. His eyes were relaxing until he felt normal again. This definitely wasn't a normal migraine, that much was for sure.

"N-Naruto?" Sasuke asked uncertainly. He was afraid to talk.

"I'm fine," Naruto confirmed, "but let's go. I feel like… we just need to go."

"Did you see something?" Sasuke asked, his spirits perking up. It was a terrible way to have a premonition but all of Naruto's premonitions would be helpful at this point, even if they were excruciating.

"No… Yes… I mean, I don't know." Naruto sat up and faced Sasuke. "I saw flashes of a lot of things but we should just leave."

Sasuke didn't waste any more time arguing. If Naruto said they should go, he was going to go. "Okay," he agreed as he got up to gather their things. Naruto paused on the bed for a few long moments before helping Sasuke.

Once in the car and on the freeway, Sasuke was flipping through the radio stations. Despite Naruto's strange headaches, Sasuke was still in high spirits. Could he really be _that_ happy about last night? Had it really meant _that_ much to him? Naruto knew it did for himself. He found himself smiling as he watched Sasuke sing along to a song. It was slow and ominous and Naruto recognized it as Sasuke's favorite song. He was one to like the darker songs.

**_I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways_**

**_I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests_**

**_I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans_**

**_I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard_**

**_And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard_**

**_It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall_**

Naruto felt his eye twitch as a picture he vaguely recognized from his earlier attack flashed in his mind. He slowly started to silently panic, fearing he was up against another attack. Sasuke looked and smiled at Naruto as he sang the next line of the song and Naruto forgot what he'd just seem completely as he admired his companion. Sasuke was like an anchor tying Naruto down to the earth. He felt untouchable in his presence.

**_Oh, where have you been my blue-eyed son?_**

**_And what did you see my darling young one?_**

Naruto knew that they were just the lyrics to the song but it felt like Sasuke was really asking him. _What **have** I seen,_ he questioned himself. More pictures started flashing through his mind as he watched Sasuke's lips move with the lyrics.

**_I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'_**

Images were panning out before him like a slide show. It was as if his life was flashing right before his eyes but it wasn't _his_ life and, thankfully, it wasn't painful, either. It felt like the life of someone else, someone foreign. They came to him like memories but slow and in pieces. The first thing he recalled was the first dream he had, the dream that began everything, the dream of death.

**_And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall_**

There were flashes of Tsunade's conversation. "…too much faith in Sasuke to reject him…must get to Sasuke…separate the boys…obtain the Uchiha…dispose of Naruto…"

**_I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin'_**

There was an image of a dark room and himself chained to wall. Himself or someone else? Then, there was the voice of someone dear to him, or to whomever he currently was in this premonition. "…I'd rather die…I'll never be part of this…I'll kill you if it kills me…I'm nothing like you…"

**_Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter_**

There was an image of himself speaking gently to this precious person. "…I don't know you…this isn't you…this hatred isn't you…"

**_I met another man who was wounded in hatred_**

Then, there was a glimpse of Sasuke's face, covered in blood. His eyes, dark with something Naruto had never seen before. It was a terrifying picture.

**_It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall_**

**_And what'll you do now my blue-eyed son?_**

Sasuke was looking at Naruto as he sang the next line, subconsciously asking him…

**_And what'll you do now my darling young one?_**

Naruto's face scrunched with agony as he felt the pain of a wound at his side. Wait, whose side? Whose pain? Who is this? _Who am I,_ Naruto questioned. _WHO AM I?!_

**_And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard_**

**_A hard rain's a-gonna fall. A hard rain's a-gonna fall._**

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked softly, attempting to snap him out of his tense rumination. Sasuke turned down the radio, fearing that the nature of the song was only serving to further weigh Naruto's thoughts down. "Naruto?" Sasuke repeated gently. "You okay over there?"

An image of a young, blond girl crying out, begging for help flashed through Naruto's mind. She was screaming for a savior, tears pouring down her face as they washed away dirt and spots of dried blood. Her eyes were desperate. She reached through bars, trying to reach freedom.

"Hey!" Sasuke shouted, successfully snapping Naruto out of his mind. "I said I was sorry. You don't have to ignore me," Sasuke huffed.

"N-No," Naruto consoled, "I'm not mad at you I was… I was just…" He contemplated telling Sasuke everything that he'd just seen but how would he explain it? It was really just a bunch of flashes of strange things that he couldn't make heads or tails of himself anyway. That image of the girl…

"What? What's up, then?" Sasuke asked.

That image of Sasuke…

"Naruto?" Sasuke poked.

"Nothing," Naruto answered decidedly. "I was just thinking about how hungry I am," he lied.

Sasuke smiled at Naruto, seemingly fooled. "Me too!"

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**A/N:** The song used in this chapter is _A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall_ by **Bob Dylan**.


	9. Chapter 9: Family

**Warning:** Yaoi is alive and thriving in this chapter. Some serious boyxboy action is to follow. Consider yourself fairly warned! Enjoy :)

**A/N:** Feedback would be appreciated. I'd like to hear something about my sexually charged scenes. Do you guys like them or what? Thoughts anyone?  
A special thanks goes out to my awesome new betas **ReiraKurenai** and **Sephoriya** for making this chapter possible xD Worship them.

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Family**

Naruto had been mulling over the images that had flashed through his mind for the past six hours solid, causing him to nearly drive off of the road a few times. He had taken over the wheel five hours ago when Sasuke started complaining about how tired he was. Sasuke had woken up long before Naruto at the motel. He hadn't been able to get much sleep and had slipped out of bed while Naruto was still knocked out. He spent the time in between then and when Naruto finally woke just watching Naruto and thinking about everything that had happened to them in the past couple of weeks. They had spent the bulk of the day in that motel room, seeing as they didn't even get to bed until around nine in the morning. They left the motel at Naruto's request at around five. Sasuke began to yawn and complain of exhaustion around six. Naruto offered to drive so that Sasuke could sleep. Now, it was almost eleven and there were no cars on the road, except for the occasional pair of headlights heading in the opposite direction.

Left to wander with nothing but the monotonous darkness of the desolate road ahead of him, Naruto's mind kept unavoidably falling back to the image of that young, pleading girl. Her hair was as yellow and bright as the sun, though, dimmed by captivity. Her eyes were as blue and vivid as the ocean, yet, weighed down by the shackles of cruelty. Across each cheek were three thin, whisker-like scars. Naruto knew that she was real, and that's what made her so haunting. She was alive, and she was suffering. She was awaiting a savior, just how he saw her. She was desperate and afraid. Right at this very moment, she was somewhere praying for freedom. Naruto's throat tightened as he wondered what her name might be. Perhaps, her name was Akeno, a bright meadow of light. Maybe her name was something like Maiha, a dance of the waves. Her name could have been Isami, brave beauty. Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat with great effort. It made him feel guilty to know he was safe, healthy, and happy here with Sasuke while she was out there all alone.

Speaking of Sasuke, Naruto wondered how much longer they would be able to say that they were safe and happy together. Naruto had seen a disturbing sight of Sasuke, too. He had seen Sasuke in a basement or something of the sort, looking like… like… like someone who _wasn't_ Sasuke. He had a look that Naruto had never seen before. Naruto felt a cold shiver trickle down his spine. He hoped that he would never witness that look in Sasuke's eyes outside of that vision. It was a look of malice and of hatred. Naruto never wanted Sasuke to be tainted with that and, yet, he knew that he would. He had seen it. Just as he knew that poor girl was out there waiting to be saved, he knew that Sasuke would be needing saving, too. He didn't know why or when—not that he wanted to find out, either—but he did know that _he_ would have to be the one to do the saving.

Naruto heaved a sigh. "I don't want to see you like that, Sasuke," he whispered aloud into the silent car.

"What?" Sasuke questioned sleepily as he shifted uncomfortably in the passenger's seat.

"You up?" Naruto asked.

"No, not at all, but I _am_ uncomfortable as fuck," he complained, turning his still drawn eyelids in Naruto's direction.

"Well, it's a good thing that I'm already getting off this road and finding us a motel," said Naruto, "so you can sleep better."

"Mm," Sasuke grunted half-heartedly in response.

Naruto took the next exit off of the highway, not even bothering to check where they were. He really didn't care. He just wanted to find a motel. After about five minutes of searching, Naruto pulled into the first shabby motel parking lot he found and parked the car.

"I'm gonna go—" Naruto began before Sasuke placed a silencing finger up against his lips and shook his head disapprovingly.

"I got it this time," said Sasuke.

"But you're so ti—"

"Sh! I'm getting this one." Sasuke insisted.

"Fine." Naruto caved, defeated. "I'll just get the bags, then."

Sasuke nodded. "I'll see if this one is vacant," he added, gesturing to the room that Naruto had parked in front of. "It'd be a bother to move the car." Then, Sasuke was off to pay for their room. When he returned, Sasuke was smiling triumphantly as he waved two room keys in the air. "I even got us quite a discount."

Naruto couldn't help but smile at his companion. "And how did you do that?"

Sasuke chuckled lightly as he swooped past Naruto to unlock the door. "With my devilish good looks and irresistible charm," he answered as he swung the door open dramatically. Naruto entered and followed. "Seriously, though," Sasuke continued as he closed the door behind Naruto, "that's the truth."

Naruto dropped the bags on the ground and turned to look at Sasuke, unconvinced. "Oh, really?"

"Yep." Sasuke smiled arrogantly. "The clerk was absolutely entranced by me."

Naruto chuckled. Sasuke _was_ rather attractive. It wasn't far-fetched to think that someone would give him a discount just because of his 'devilish good looks and irresistible charm'. The real clincher here for Naruto was that Sasuke never, and he meant _never,_ used them to his advantage like that. He hated people swooning and fawning all over him. He made it a point to be perfectly antisocial and unapproachable just to avoid that kind of unwanted attention. The idea that he had purposely used his enticing traits to get a discount wasn't exactly convincing.

Sasuke picked up Naruto's disbelieving vibe quickly. "Really, I mean it," he insisted. "I rang the bell four times before the dolt came to the counter. I was actually rather livid but as soon he turned the corner, I could see that he was a 6 on the Kinsey right away. I mean," Sasuke continued as he sat down on the bed, "he's definitely the type to chase all types of tail. He wouldn't care if you were gay or not. He's gonna hit on you anyway, so I couldn't resist the urge. I'm feeling rather… playful tonight."

Naruto smiled mischievously. He could get behind a playful Uchiha. "And how did you know that he would be so interested?" Naruto questioned.

"I'm hot," Sasuke stated bluntly before chuckling. "Well, I am."

"You are," Naruto confirmed.

"_B__ut_," Sasuke continued, "him batting his pathetic eyelashes at me and starting out with a compliment might have been a dead giveaway too. He was testing the waters and seeing if he could get lucky with me tonight or not. As soon as he did it, it was too tempting to pass up, so I turned on the charm." Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly, as if leading on an innocent guy was a game he played daily. "He melted like a puddle under me and gave me a huge discount. Then, I told him I couldn't wait to jump into bed and warm up with some company." Sasuke snorted. "His eyes lit up like I'd ever actually go for him. Maybe it was a little mean, but I had to laugh when I told him that you were waiting here for me to do just that."

"You really toyed with the poor guy," Naruto pointed out, feeling a bit surprised that Sasuke had played such a game. He used to be a very flirty guy, but he had abandoned that attitude long ago when he and Naruto had gotten together. At first, Naruto hated the flirting. It made him jealous. Now, however, Naruto wasn't worried about Sasuke flirting with some random motel clerk. Sasuke was _his_ and after their last round in the sheets, he didn't even care at all. He and Sasuke were closer than they had been in a while.

"The point is that you and I should get to warming up, don't you think?" Sasuke prompted, smirking devilishly. He kicked off his shoes and shifted further back onto the bed. Naruto decidedly kicked off his own shoes and crawled over Sasuke, coming to a stop while straddling his thighs. He stared down into Sasuke's deep eyes and was faced with that image of a foreign, angry Sasuke from his vision. Naruto's face slipped into a pained expression at the image invading his mind without his permission.

Sasuke took note of the change in expression. "Hey," he said softly, bringing Naruto back to stare into the real soft, loving eyes of his partner. Sasuke did have an end to that sentence, but he felt that there was no need to say it. Naruto knew. There was something deep, honest, and unspoken that flitted between the two.

Naruto leaned down and kissed Sasuke on the forehead. "Three," Naruto whispered. Sasuke's breath caught in his throat upon realizing what Naruto was doing. Naruto kissed Sasuke lightly on the nose. "Two," Naruto continued, initiating an old ritual that they hadn't performed in so long that Sasuke had completely forgotten about it. It was something that they started up at kids before they really understood what the two of them kissing could mean. It was something that they did for each other when one of them was in need of special comfort.

One day a very, very long time ago when Sasuke was feeling especially down, the idea just came to Naruto. He kissed Sasuke on the forehead and began his countdown. Then, he moved to the nose. He found himself really wanting to kiss Sasuke on the lips, too, to make him feel better because that's what he thought kisses were supposed to do. Naruto explained himself to Sasuke, telling him that kisses were always comforting so why couldn't they do it too? One of them could just countdown to help work up their nerves and then, if the other wanted to, he could make the last move. If Sasuke wanted the comfort, he could take it. Almost immediately, Sasuke had finished the count and kissed Naruto on the lips. The rest was just history from then on.

Neither boy could really tell when their relationship truly started. Perhaps, it was that first countdown or maybe it was the day they shared their first real, tongue involved kiss. They had shared so many frivolous and innocent kisses before that they didn't quite know when it changed from platonic to romantic or if it ever even was platonic to begin with. It wasn't a ritual that they performed too often. It was only for special circumstances. It was started at a tumultuous time for the both of them. At the time, it was hard to really tell each other 'I love you' or to just kiss simply because they wanted to. It was an easy way to show each other how they truly felt without having to define it in a way that neither of them were prepared to do. After they began to identify as boyfriends, though, it almost died completely out. When they could kiss openly in public whenever they wanted to, there was no real need for the ritual anymore. However, Naruto felt compelled to initiate it now, and so he moved his lips to hover above Sasuke's and await his lover's response.

It was up to Sasuke to dictate where they went from here. Naruto knew that their future was bound to be rocky from then on out and he was offering Sasuke his comfort, his love, and his promise to stick by his side. As his blue eyes implored into onyx, he knew that Sasuke understood the gesture. Sasuke would either return the sentiment or leave it hanging out in the open, and that would either strengthen or weaken them. The beginning of a tear welled up in the corner of one of those dark eyes and Sasuke's lips turned up ever so slightly into a smile. It felt like the perfect time for such a sentimental gesture. The words were 'three, two, one' but they had always really meant 'I love you'. The word came out through shaky breaths but it still felt as solid as a rock.

"One," Sasuke finished. He gripped Naruto's shirt tightly in one hand and blond locks in the other as he pulled, not only Naruto's lips but Naruto's entire body against his own, initiating a fiery embrace.

Naruto moved his lips with purpose against Sasuke's as his hands tangled in Sasuke's jet-black hair. The kiss was heating up quickly, and Sasuke didn't even pause to ask for access before slipping his tongue past the threshold into Naruto's mouth. Naruto didn't mind, of course, and met Sasuke with his own fervent tongue, initiating a passionate wrestling match. The embrace was broken when Naruto decided that he needed to surface for air, but the momentum of the moment did not falter. In one quick movement, Naruto had Sasuke's shirt removed and flung across the room carelessly.

He returned his attention to Sasuke by kissing slowly down his neck until he met his collar bone. He licked tantalizingly along the contour of the bone while Sasuke worked his hands up the muscles of Naruto's strong back. When he reached the top, Sasuke puffed his chest out in a request for Naruto to detach long enough to be undressed. Naruto complied, sitting up and allowing Sasuke to remove his shirt. Naruto then began to fumble with Sasuke's pants. Sasuke decided that Naruto was taking too long, so he cupped his cheeks and brought him back down into a kiss. Once their lips met, Sasuke wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and flipped positions, swinging Naruto to lie on his back.

Sasuke, much more nimble with his hands, had Naruto's pants undone in less than a second and was tugging them off skillfully. Naruto lifted his hips and shook his legs haphazardly in assistance. Sasuke couldn't help but chuckle at the display. Now that the heat was momentarily broken by comic relief, Sasuke stood to simply appreciate the form of Naruto's naked body on the bed. Naruto blushed at the attention and sat up on the bed, scooting until he sat on the edge right in front of Sasuke.

Naruto looked up into Sasuke's eyes mischievously, and a lustrous smirk flooded Sasuke's face as he slid the zipper of his pants down torturously slow. Naruto licked his lips hungrily as Sasuke hooked his thumbs beneath both the waistband of his jeans and his boxers. Naruto placed his own hands on top of Sasuke's and together, they slowly tugged the clothing down until Sasuke stopped dangerously below his hip bone. Naruto did not complain but leaned in and kissed Sasuke's stomach slowly. He blazed a trail of fire down to a hip bone, pausing to suck the pale skin there gently. He planted shallow kisses all the way across to the other hip, adoring the bone there with his tongue.

Deciding that Naruto could finish the job rather well on his own, Sasuke removed his hands to bury them in Naruto's hair. He gripped the locks firmly, successfully portraying his desire to Naruto. Naruto hooked a finger on either side of Sasuke's hips underneath the remaining clothing and began to pull it steadily down, revealing small tufts of short, dark hair and the base of Sasuke's shaft. Naruto kissed the skin there tenderly, causing Sasuke to sigh. He continued to pull the clothing down Sasuke's thighs until just the head of Sasuke's length remained constrained, causing his erection to be pulled down flat. Naruto kissed all the way down the shaft until his lips met jean, and then he licked his way back up until his tongue met hair. Sasuke shuddered at the sensation. Naruto was truly a god at creating sexual tension.

With a sharp tug, Sasuke's clothing fell to his ankles. His hard length popped up and slapped Naruto under the chin, causing Naruto to smirk. Sasuke stepped out of his clothes and kicked them away. Naruto leaned back and peered up at Sasuke, questioning him with his eyes.

Sasuke nodded down at Naruto. "I'll bottom," he confirmed.

"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned, trying to be courteous. He really wanted to top this time but if Sasuke didn't want to bottom, he didn't want to pressure him to.

"Yes," Sasuke whispered. "I'm sure."

Naruto's eyes slit sinfully as he pictured all of the things he wanted to do to Sasuke, bringing out a lascivious glint in Sasuke's eyes too. Sasuke tightened his grip on Naruto's hair, commanding him to get this under way. His erection was already beading with precum. Naruto wrapped a hand firmly around Sasuke's base, never breaking eye contact with his partner. He reached one hand around to grab Sasuke's ass and gave it a gentle squeeze. Sasuke bit his lip and Naruto broke the stare to focus on the task at hand. He dragged his tongue slowly around the rim of Sasuke's erection and licked up the slit, lapping up the bead waiting for him. Sasuke's breath hitched at the sight. With a satisfied smile, Naruto licked up the vein on the underside of Sasuke's length and took the head of Sasuke's erection in his mouth. He swirled his tongue around it a couple of times before releasing it with a pop.

Sasuke leaned his head back and released a satisfied sigh. Naruto took Sasuke in his mouth again and began to suck slowly on his length. Naruto removed the hand kneading Sasuke's cheek, ghosted it up Sasuke's side, dragged it across Sasuke's chest, and wrapped his fingers around Sasuke's jaw line. He, then, caressed Sasuke's bottom lip lightly with two of his fingers, inviting Sasuke to give him some direction. Sasuke took Naruto's fingers into his mouth eagerly and began to swirl his tongue at the tips. Naruto mimicked the actions on Sasuke, swirling his tongue around the head of Sasuke's length, causing him to groan. Sasuke, then, turned his attention to the base of Naruto's fingers, prompting Naruto to take even more of Sasuke into his mouth and swirl his tongue around the base of Sasuke. Sasuke released a loud moan and laid his tongue flat against Naruto's fingers. Naruto smiled around Sasuke, knowing exactly what that meant.

He moved his hand from the base of Sasuke's length and wedged it between his thighs, gesturing for Sasuke to widen his stance and Sasuke complied immediately. Naruto continued to suck Sasuke as he moved his hand up in between Sasuke's cheeks, parting them gently with his fingers. Naruto removed his fingers from Sasuke's mouth and brought them around to moisten his entrance. Sasuke's breath grew ragged in nervous anticipation of the uncomfortable sensation that was certain to follow. Naruto gingerly inserted his finger only up to a knuckle, though, and Sasuke was thankful for the slow pace.

Then, Naruto laid his tongue flat against the underneath of Sasuke's length and swallowed hard while pushing a second finger further in, causing Sasuke to howl equally in pleasure and pain. _That_ was more like Naruto and _that_ was why Sasuke was more of a topper. Naruto was somewhat of a masochist, inadvertently making Sasuke a sadist. Naruto liked it rough and Sasuke liked whatever Naruto liked, no matter what it was. When Naruto was turned on, Sasuke was turned on. Naruto didn't mind taking rough rides and he, typically, preferred the bottom. He, of course, loved to top, too, though.

Naruto didn't mind pain. It kind of turned him on, actually, and he was often unforgiving when it came to topping. Sasuke could only bottom every once in a while because Naruto would wear him out completely. The pain was always ridiculous when Naruto was preparing him, but Naruto was so skilled that there was also a lot of nearly unbearable pleasure. He mixed the two so well that Sasuke couldn't even complain. Sure, he'd like to prepare at a slower pace but he couldn't deny that Naruto never gave better pleasure than when he was inflicting just as much pain, so Naruto made Sasuke a bit of a masochist, too.

Naruto repeated the swallow multiple times, each time delving further into Sasuke's opening with his fingers. He was relentless until he reached Sasuke's prostate. He went back to sucking Sasuke adamantly the way he knew Sasuke liked it. He gave Sasuke time to relax, and only moved his fingers ever so slightly against Sasuke's prostate. The pleasure was building slowly but steadily, and Sasuke's breath was coming faster and faster until Naruto could move his fingers more freely. Naruto inserted a third finger alongside another deep swallow of Sasuke's length. Sasuke didn't clench up nearly as much as before. A couple more minutes of careful titillation and Sasuke's knees were beginning to wobble. Pleased with his work, Naruto released Sasuke's erection and motioned for him to move to the bed.

Sasuke collapsed willingly onto the mattress. Now, all he had to do was lie back and enjoy himself. Naruto was a phenomenal topper. He could go for hours at a time and not stop. His stamina was unreal. Naruto crawled in between Sasuke's legs and wrapped them around his waist as he licked all the way up Sasuke's torso. He kissed roughly up Sasuke's neck until his lips met Sasuke's ear. He rubbed his erection across Sasuke's entrance and moaned in Sasuke's ear, causing Sasuke to arch his back and dig his nails into Naruto's shoulders.

Naruto bit his lip hard. "Fuck," he growled and Sasuke's nails dug in even further. Naruto knew exactly how to make Sasuke squirm. "Beg for it, baby," Naruto whispered huskily.

Sasuke groaned Naruto's name followed by, "Fuck me."

Naruto pressed his hard member against Sasuke's entrance. "What was that?"

"Nghh… I said fuck me, Naruto," Sasuke repeated breathlessly. In the bedroom with Naruto was the only place you'd ever see Sasuke so submissive and that was only because Naruto liked it. If it turned Naruto on, it turned Sasuke on, too. "Please," Sasuke pleaded.

Naruto spat in his hand and rubbed up his dick to lubricate it as best as he could. He bit into Sasuke's neck and kneaded the skin there roughly, causing a loud howl to leave Sasuke's lips. Naruto released the skin and spat in his hand a few more times before deciding it was adequate enough. This was a rough ride but it didn't have to be _that_ rough. He leaned away from Sasuke's body to admire the way his eyes were clenched with anticipation. He pushed himself lightly against Sasuke's entrance before demanding more pleading from the pale boy beneath him. Knowing that it was the only way to get Naruto inside of him, Sasuke complied eagerly, perhaps, a bit too eagerly. Maybe he secretly liked the submissive role.

"Nghh… Naruto, please take me. Please, I want to feel you…"

"Yeah," Naruto groaned as pushed onward, slipping his head completely inside.

"I want to feel you inside of me. Oh, god, Naruto! Yes! More!" Naruto pushed even more of himself inside. "Fuck, Naruto, fuck… fuck… fuck me!"

Naruto pulled back slightly and began to thrust shallowly. "Don't stop," he commanded.

"Nghh… Yes, Naruto! Oh, yes! Harder, Naruto! Take me harder!"

Naruto grunted as he thrust even harder into Sasuke. "More," he demanded.

"I want y—" Sasuke's plight was interrupted by a loud moan that ripped through his throat as Naruto relocated his prostate. He tried to continue his dirty talk but all that came out were fractions of various words of his inner monologue. Naruto pounded harder and harder into the pale boy, growling ferociously all the while. The differential line between Sasuke's breathy moans and Naruto's bestial grunts grew thinner and thinner, until both boys were making noises unfit for categorizing.

Sasuke arched his back up high as he tried to spit out Naruto's name. The pleasure had grown white hot in his belly, and he was sure that he was about to explode. "Na-Na-Na," he repeated desperately, so Naruto began pumping Sasuke to help push him over the edge. Naruto only got in a few good pumps, though, before Sasuke released with loud, unrestrained howl. Naruto didn't stop, though.

He flipped Sasuke around in a quick motion and cradled his hips in one arm to support his weight. Sasuke clenched the sheets in his fists, knowing that one time around the block wasn't enough for Naruto. He probably wouldn't finish until Sasuke's third or fourth time. He kept pumping Sasuke excitedly until Sasuke was hard again. Sasuke slapped at Naruto's hand wildly, trying to convey that the pleasure was too much. Naruto hadn't stopped his attack on Sasuke's prostate for more than the second it took to flip him over and the sensation was debilitating. Naruto ignored Sasuke's slapping, however, and continued to stroke him fervently. He leaned down and managed to suck patches of the taut skin on Sasuke's back in between his teeth to knead them roughly, leaving, at least, a half a dozen marks on Sasuke's back. Sasuke's throat was drying as he neared another orgasm. He abandoned all hopes of containing his moans and was now releasing short, punctuating screams. Naruto thrust hard into Sasuke, causing him to release yet again.

Naruto slowed his pace as he squeezed every last drop of cum from Sasuke, allowing him a reprieve. Naruto continued petting Sasuke slowly as he groaned breathily into his ear. He moaned Sasuke's name repeatedly as he rolled his hips gently, causing Sasuke's moans to rise with desire. He knew exactly what to do to get Sasuke quickly back in action. Bringing him slowly back to full arousal, Naruto deepened his thrusts again. Coming closer and closer to his own haven of ecstasy, Naruto continued to groan deeply into Sasuke's ear. Suddenly growing impatient, Sasuke began to buck back commandingly, and Naruto smiled at his lover's new resolve.

Without any argument, Naruto picked up the pace. He stroked Sasuke quickly with purpose, intending to elicit one last release before finishing himself. Sasuke shouted fragments of Naruto's name out into the room. Unable to support himself again, he dropped his head into the bedding, muffling his screams.

"Sasuke," Naruto groaned. "Nghh… Sasuke, cum for me. Cum for me," he pleaded with his partner, now dangerously close to his own release.

With a few more ardent pumps, Sasuke released with a strangled scream. Naruto removed his soiled hand from his partner and pressed it up against the small of Sasuke's back, poising his ass higher in the air. He pounded deeply into Sasuke until a loud groan ripped through his chest. His eyes blanked out with the white light of ecstasy as he pulled out and released himself all over the sheets. Sasuke immediately reached back and milked every last drop from Naruto who rolled his hips shallowly in rhythm with Sasuke's hand.

Naruto finally released Sasuke from his grip and flopped down beside him, panting heavily. His eyelids were slipping closed when Sasuke rolled off of the bed and began tugging lazily at the sheets. Naruto grunted with dismay but rolled away from Sasuke, allowing the bedding to gradually slip away from beneath him until he was lying on the bare mattress. Sasuke wiped himself clean and threw the soiled sheets across the room. He, then, began looking in the drawers for new ones.

"Sasuke," Naruto whined, "why are you doing this _right_ now?"

Sasuke only smiled. "We're not sleeping on that cesspool of a mattress, Naruto," he croaked out roughly. His throat had taken a beating from all that vocal expression.

Naruto grinned widely, quite pleased with the outcome of that romping session. He sat up languidly and found the sheets in the bedside table beside him. He threw them at Sasuke and rolled lazily off the bed. "Sheets," he grunted as he pointed to the bare mattress. He was so tired now that he couldn't even form another cohesive sentence.

Sasuke snickered. "Trust me, I'm tired too. You just annihilated me but _I'm_ still finding the strength to dress the bed," Sasuke argued.

"Bah! Fine!" Naruto gave in and helped properly dress the bed.

Once the sheets were fitted, they both fell down on the mattress. They could only muster up enough strength to cover half of their bodies with the blanket before they both passed out, arms and legs tangled together.

* * *

Naruto woke with a sharp gasp and started coughing immediately.

"What! What's wrong?" Sasuke shouted as he came running stiffly and grimacing from the bathroom, naked and with shampoo in his hair.

Naruto replaced his coughs with laughter at the sight. "No… No… It's… f-fine… I'm… I'm fine," he finally spat out, "go back."

"O-Okay…" Sasuke answered cautiously as he retreated back to the bathroom slowly, his eyes scrunched up with discomfort.

Naruto rolled into a ball on his side and hugged himself tightly. His heart sank as he recalled his earlier dream. He saw the blond girl again and she told him, "He will betray you." What that meant, Naruto had no clue. He wasn't even sure if it was _him_ that she was talking to. He didn't know who he was in these premonitions. He didn't know who she was either, but he found himself wishing that he did. He wanted desperately to know her, to save her. If only Naruto could find her. He could help her. He was certain the he could. Naruto startled when he heard the news start up on the TV as Sasuke slowly lowered himself down on the bed beside Naruto, wearing only boxers and drying his hair with a towel.

"You aching over there?" Naruto asked smugly.

Sasuke smiled at Naruto's gloating. "Yeah, well, be proud. You worked me pretty hard, dobe."

Naruto was about to gloat about how _he_ wasn't sore after bottoming for Sasuke but something that he heard on the TV distracted him. "Turn that up?" he asked Sasuke hastily and Sasuke complied. "What did she say? Was that… Whistler?"

"Yeah," Sasuke answered with little interest, as if it was old news. "What? You didn't even know the name of the town that _you_ picked to stay in?" There was a playfulness to his tone.

"No," said Naruto far too seriously, "I didn't."

"I was only joking, Naruto," Sasuke defended, taking in the seriousness of Naruto's tone.

"No… It's just… I… This is my hometown, Sasuke," Naruto replied. "My… My parents are probably… buried here."

Sasuke stared blankly for a long a moment, unsure of what kind of reaction he should employ at a time like this, so he said what he'd want Naruto to say if it were him. "Let's go see their graves, then," he offered.

Naruto seemed to contemplate this for only a short moment before smiling weakly. "Yeah, let's do that."

* * *

Sasuke groaned in frustration. "They should have put these in alphabetical order, god damnit! I mean, seriously! What were they thinking? You can't find anyone in this fucking place!"

Naruto chuckled as he rubbed Sasuke's back. For the passenger on this ride down memory lane, Sasuke was much more sensitive emotionally right now than even Naruto was. "Calm down, teme. We'll find them."

"Yeah," Sasuke grumbled, "and maybe before we're eighty too, if we're lucky. We've already come across thirteen Uzumakis and not _one_ of them has been the right one. Damn you for having had a huge family!"

Naruto chuckled again. "I know, right! Who even knew?"

At that moment, they came out on the other side of a large tombstone and took notice of a red-haired lady standing over a grave not too far away from them that they hadn't noticed before. They kept examining the names on the graves as they neared her. When they reached her, she squatted down to put flowers on the grave and Naruto peered over her rather comically to catch the name on the grave. She stood up just as he got a good look at it and caused him to jump away to keep her from bumping into him. He studied the name on the grave next to it too and then promptly dragged Sasuke down a few graves, out of earshot. He looked over his shoulder to be sure she wasn't looking, but the woman appeared to give as many as zero fucks about them.

"That's them," Naruto whispered.

"What?" Sasuke asked. "We found them?"

"Yeah," said Naruto, "but who is she?"

"Pfffft, I don't know dobe. Ask her," Sasuke suggested, as if the answer was all too obvious.

"Wh… I… No," Naruto refuted haughtily, "I… I don't want to."

Sasuke chuckled at the childish display. "Fine, I'll ask. Excuse me? Who are you?" he asked bluntly. Naruto nudged him roughly for being so blatant.

She sighed quietly to herself and answered without looking up at them. "Can't you see that I'm grieving? What does it matter who I am? Leave me alone," she replied.

"Well—" Sasuke began.

"Well," Naruto interrupted him quickly, fearing that he would say something seriously inconsiderate, "it's just that… um… well… that's my mom."

She snapped her head up quickly and gasped at the sight of him. "Oh my god," she whispered more to herself than anyone. Her eyes were filling rapidly with tears. She then flicked her awestruck eyes to Sasuke and her expression dived into a whole different kind of shock. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed louder. She darted her eyes between the two boys, drawing in a sharp breath of air each time as she did. She scrunched her face up with what seemed to be concern until her lungs could take no more air and Sasuke could take no more of the annoying display

"We get it! You're surprised!" Sasuke interrupted impatiently.

She muttered something to herself but ignored him. "N-Naruto?" she asked, turning her attention to him.

"How do you know my name?" he questioned warily.

"I'm…" she began before stopping, deciding better of it. "We shouldn't talk out here, I don't think. Come to my house. Follow me there," she offered softly but it came across clearly as a demand.

"Okay," Naruto agreed too easily.

"Wha… wait!" Sasuke exclaimed grabbing Naruto by the arm to stop him. "We don't even know you! Why would we go to your house? How can we trust you won't kill us or something?"

She snorted at the suggestion. "I'm not the one who's to be suspected of being a murderer here," she snapped.

Sasuke's face contorted in confusion. Was she accusing _him_ of being a murderer? "What?" he asked. He shook his head in astonishment, as if she had just said something really stupid which, in his opinion, she truly had.

"Sasuke," Naruto began, taking his hand, "she knows my parents or my mom, at least. Why wouldn't we go?"

Sasuke was ready to list off the millions of reasons that he had, but the plight in Naruto's eyes was too convincing. He heaved a sigh and rolled his eyes. "Fine," he grumbled.


	10. Chapter 10: Uzumaki

**A/N:** There is a link to the floor plan of the crazy lady's house offered at the end of this chapter. Also, thank my beta sent from the heavens above, **Clumsy Ninjable**, for making this what it is :) Without her, this would _not_ be possible and I soooooo mean that.

**Warning:**  
—There's some citrus in the last half. It's nothing graphic though. Not a full lemon. Just a tease :)  
—Blood and murder mentioned. Do not fear it. If you can't even stand the sight of such words though, then fear it.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Uzumaki**

Sasuke pulled his car up to the curb in front of the mystery lady's house and put it in park. She jumped quickly from her own car, waving madly at the boys in a clear attempt to stop them from getting out though.

"She's crazy," Sasuke stated half-heartedly, as if it were old news.

"Shut up," Naruto warned just as half-heartedly, not really caring what Sasuke thought anymore. He rolled down the window to regard the woman. "What is it?" he asked the redhead.

"It would just be better if you parked in the alley," she said as she gestured to a narrow alleyway that sat between her house and the large, vacant industrial building to the left of it, which casted a heavy shadow over the alley.

"Okay," Naruto agreed. He rolled up the window as she retreated back to her car.

Sasuke huffed unhappily as he put the car back in drive. "This is so—"

"Stupid?" Naruto supplied, looking around at Sasuke with a dull expression. "Yes, Sasuke, I know. You've only said so a thousand times already." Naruto rolled his eyes and then continued, now pleading, "Please, just get behind me on this."

All traces of his disapproval seemed distant when Sasuke smirked at the suggestive words. "If you insist," Sasuke jested.

"Stop," Naruto commanded. The effect, however, was dulled by the snickers of laughter he followed up with. "I just really want to see who she is, okay?" Naruto said, his amusement diffusing. "She might know some things that I don't and that's pretty likely, considering I don't really know _anything_ about my family."

Sasuke turned off the car once they had parked securely in the alley. He spun to face Naruto and argue more seriously, but he found big, blue, bright eyes boring right into him. He grimaced at the thought of disappointing Naruto. "Fine!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in defeat and turning away from the blond. "But if she tries to kill us,"—he shot Naruto a sideways glare—"I'm gonna kill _you._"

Naruto chuckled. "Oh, shut up. She's not gonna kill us, teme."

Sasuke huffed in a way that said, 'you'd better hope not' and Naruto rolled his eyes. The teme could be so dramatic sometimes. The boys exited the car into the alley and walked around to the redhead's front door where she stood waiting for them. She opened it quickly and ushered them in. She smiled kindly at Naruto but stared Sasuke down as he passed, as if he was going to rob her. Sasuke rolled his eyes as he followed his blond inside. This woman was really working on his last nerve. Did he _look_ like a criminal? If he was committing any crime against her, it'd definitely be murder, not theft.

"Well," she began as she followed them in and closed her door, "it's a real pleasure to meet you." She paused as she contemplated what to say next. The awkward silence extended as she decided that she didn't _know_ what to say. "Tea?" she offered with such forced delight that it was sickening.

Sasuke snorted derisively. "No. We didn't come here for _tea!_" he snapped. Naruto jabbed him roughly in the ribs with his elbow and shot him a threatening glance that screamed 'be nice'. Sasuke growled and folded his arms across his chest with a glare, coming as close to pouting as an Uchiha can.

"_I_ wouldn't mind some tea," Naruto said sweetly, smiling at the redhead.

"Great!" she exclaimed. "Just go right in there and make yourselves comfortable," she directed, pointing to a doorway leading through to her living room. Then, thinking better of her words, she narrowed her eyes at Sasuke and amended, "Not _too_ comfortable though."

"As if that's even possible," Sasuke grumbled while she walked off in the opposite direction toward a doorway that led into her kitchen.

Sasuke followed Naruto slowly, taking in the shape of her home and making snide remarks about its lack of order. Books, papers, jars full of junk, and a variety of other random things were carelessly packed into every crevice of the bookshelves. Sasuke couldn't tell if the mess was actually order or just plain madness. Her large dining room table was covered with even more books and papers. Her curtains were all drawn, as if she were afraid of people seeing inside. _That_ wasn't a surprise to Sasuke though. He wouldn't want anyone to see this mess either. The floor was clean enough. The house was just cluttered beyond belief. The boys walked through the open doorway and into the living room, which was just as cluttered, if not worse.

"I'm sorry for the mess!" the redhead called from their left and Sasuke was startled by how shockingly close her voice sounded. He turned to see her standing in the kitchen on the other side of a wall about stomach height, busying herself at the stove with her back turned. "Please, have a seat though!" she called over her shoulder and Naruto did exactly that without hesitation. Sasuke didn't move right away though. His feet felt nailed to the floor. He was a certified neat freak, and standing in such a cluttered room made him feel quite uneasy. He was really starting to feel claustrophobic. He had the urge to clean and not stop until the place was in proper order, or else just run. When Naruto motioned for him to follow though, he shook off the anxiety and moved slowly to sit beside his friend.

"What's your problem?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke, true concern laced in his voice.

"What isn't?" Sasuke replied sarcastically, still staring around at the room with disdain. "This place is an absolute mess! I can hardly _breathe_ in here." Sasuke looked at Naruto with a displeased scowl. "Not to mention, she's a _total stranger_!" he whispered snappishly.

The redhead huffed in the kitchen, causing Naruto to straighten up in an attempt to look as if they weren't just whispering about her. Sasuke offered no such reaction. He didn't care if she had heard him, nor did he have the desire to appear inconspicuous. He simply rolled his eyes, folded his arms again, and leaned back on the sofa.

"Well," she began as she made her way from the kitchen into the living room, "we'll have to do without tea. It seems that my gas is shut off. Perhaps, something else would do," she offered earnestly, half turning her body back toward the kitchen.

"No! That's okay," Naruto answered quickly, throwing his hands out in a gesture to stop her. "I'd rather just talk," he said, smiling warmly at her. She all but melted into a puddle, causing Sasuke to roll his eyes with disgust.

"Alright," she agreed softly, solidifying from her ooey-gooey puddle of adoration and sliding nervously into a chair adjacent to the couch, "we'll talk." She sounded as if she were afraid to talk though. In truth, she had been counting on the tea to buy her some extra time to compose herself, so she wasn't sure what to do anymore. She didn't think that she was at all ready to just talk. Sasuke found himself wondering what the hell they were doing there if she was so obviously reluctant to talk to them.

"What's your angle?" Sasuke asked bluntly, abandoning his pout and sitting up straight on the couch. Naruto could ignore her strange attitude if he wanted, but Sasuke wasn't going to let it go, no matter how many uncomfortable jabs in the ribs it earned him. Plus, if Naruto got really annoying, Sasuke would just punch him.

The redhead's eyes iced over as she regarded Sasuke. "What do you mean?" she asked coolly. She clearly did not care to hear the answer or anything at all from Sasuke, for that matter.

"What did you invite us here for?" Sasuke asked, beginning to assault her with questions. "You don't even know us. What do you want? Why were you so quick to lure us from the cemetery? Why are you so reluctant to talk and so eager to make tea? Are you trying to poison us?" Naruto slowly turned incredulous eyes to Sasuke. He couldn't believe that Sasuke was talking so feverishly fast or acting so hilariously paranoid. That kind of behavior was so far out of character for Sasuke that Naruto had to try and not break out into laughter. "What's with your attitude towards me?" Sasuke went on. "More importantly, what's with the constant _shift_ in attitude and that look you're always giving Naruto? He's my _boyfriend_, just so you know," Sasuke added for good measure. Naruto's brows rose high with surprise.

Sasuke was never outwardly possessive or jealous, but that was probably simply because Naruto and Sasuke were practically glued at the hip. _No one_ ever dared to venture between the two, as if Sasuke would give them the chance. Even Naruto himself was far too devoted to Sasuke to be stupid enough to even offer that kind of an opening. Not that Naruto was offering that kind of opening just then, but the woman was looking at Naruto with that kind of eye anyway and without any kind of invitation to do so. Sasuke simply could not allow it.

Whatever was glinting in her eyes looked a lot like possessiveness, and Sasuke _knew_ what possessive looked like. Just because he didn't project it outwardly didn't mean that Sasuke didn't feel protective of his blond, because he definitely did. Naruto was _his_. He scooted closer to Naruto and placed a hand firmly on his thigh. "We don't even know your name," Sasuke finished with a threatening glare. Naruto thought to give him another disapproving jab, but he was, admittedly, flattered by Sasuke's behavior. It was nice to be so obviously cherished.

The redhead's eyes hardened further on Sasuke, but she offered no response. Her holier-than-thou attitude was really pissing Sasuke off, and he was just about to give her a real piece of his mind before Naruto spoke up. "Well," Naruto began tentatively, fighting a smile, "to be fair, we _don't_ know your name."

The redhead's glare lingered on Sasuke for only a moment longer before warming back up to Naruto. She sighed. She didn't really _want_ to talk just yet, but she certainly didn't want Naruto to leave either. "Alright," she agreed, clearing her throat to muster up the courage. "My name is Karin." She paused. Uncertainty flitted across her face before she decided to go a step further. "Karin Uzumaki," she said quietly, as if she was afraid of her own name.

"What?!" Naruto blurted out immediately, eyes widening with disbelief. "Karin _what_?!"

Karin smiled meekly as hope lit up her eyes. Was Naruto remembering her? "Yes, I said Uzumaki. We're—"

"Related!" Naruto shouted with excitement, cutting her off. "We're related!" Karin watched Naruto closely, trying to gauge his reaction. She didn't know what she had expected. She had, certainly, hoped that he would remember her, but she couldn't tell if that was the case or if Naruto was just happy to know that he had a relative. "How? Who? Why?" Naruto began, shooting off questions with no definite direction.

Karin waved a hand to silence him as her eyes fell to darkness. So it was _not_ a reunion. Naruto _didn't_ remember her. She figured it would be as much when they finally found each other again, _if_ they found each other. She sighed heavily as she mustered up the composure to pretend that she _wasn't_ feeling a great ache ignite within her chest. Sasuke eyed her curiously, noticing another shift in her attitude. "I'm your—" Karin cut off hesitantly, unsure of what word to use, "—aunt," she decided.

"So you were my mother's sister?" Naruto asked excitedly, completely missing the sadness and apprehension of her tone. She did not want to talk at all anymore. She felt that she needed a few days to recover from the disheartening blow that was Naruto's ignorance before she could speak with him again.

A pained expression crossed Karin's face. "No," she denied quietly, "but I was as good as." She smiled weakly. The memory of Naruto's mother was both painful and uplifting at the same time.

"So, then, you were my _dad's_ sister?" Naruto questioned.

"No," Karin refuted timidly, "not quite that either."

"Then whose sister _are_ you?!" Naruto exclaimed impatiently.

Karin chuckled lightly and she was thankful that it didn't sound as hollow as it felt to her. "I admire that spirit. It's just like—" She stopped herself and dropped her eyes. "Well, in any case, it's complicated to explain exactly _who_ I am." She was hoping that would be enough for the time being.

"Try," Sasuke commanded sternly. He didn't exactly want to stay with the woman, but she was Naruto's family. Naruto was, clearly, dying to hear more, so Sasuke wasn't going to let her skirt around the issue and knock Naruto down.

Karin didn't waste any energy shooting Sasuke an angry glare. She simply answered quietly, keeping her eyes averted, "I will… in time."

"You have ten seconds time to get your shit together then," Sasuke said coldly, but Karin did not stir or show any signs of recognition. "Look at him," Sasuke commanded Karin, negligent of Naruto's relentless jabbing at his inconsiderate tone. When she didn't respond, he repeated himself much louder. "Look at him!"

Slowly, Karin raised her eyes to rest on a conflicted Naruto. He wasn't sure if he should be excited about this new family connection, upset about Sasuke's behavior, or apologetic for Karin having fallen prey to aforementioned behavior. One thing was for sure though. He was very expectant. "_That_ is the face of someone who has been desperate to meet you for I don't even know how long," Sasuke pointed out.

"Sasuke," Naruto began quietly, feeling uncomfortable, "it's fine. I mean, don't—"

"No," Sasuke interrupted, "it's not fine, Naruto." Sasuke kept his eyes fixed on Karin, whose eyes were fixed on Naruto. "She dragged us here and now she's going to give you answers or I swear—"

"Alright!" Karin interjected, gathering up the strength to speak again. "There are more important things to discuss first though, like what you're doing here." Sasuke, watching her very carefully, noticed the flicker of a grimace cross her face and, suddenly, he did not feel so triumphant at having convinced her to speak. She was hurting and, as much as he didn't want to, Sasuke could identify with that.

Naruto looked ready to explode into his explanation before his lips pursed with the realization that his explanation was lengthy and really quite hard to believe. "U-Uh… I don't really know where to begin. It's all a bit crazy," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Just start at the beginning," Karin suggested.

"You really won't believe me," Naruto insisted. "Can't we just say that I got here and be done with it?"

"No," Karin refuted, "we can't. Trust me. I've seen crazy things. However you got to this town can't be high up on the list," she assured.

"I don't know about that." Naruto laughed nervously as he thought about how absurd his story was. For the first time since it all began, he could see why Sasuke was so apprehensive. His nerves were peaking but Sasuke, picking up on it, turned to his blond and rubbed his leg encouragingly to gently urge him onward. One look into Sasuke's supportive eyes had Naruto filled to the brim with courage. He nodded in a decision to divulge. Karin watched the exchange with interest.

"Well," Naruto began, "it all started a few weeks ago. I started having these weird dreams." Karin's eyes lit up with the information, but she had to force herself to keep her hopes down. "I kept waking up in the middle of the night screaming and panting. I really only stopped that habit a couple of days ago actually," Naruto admitted, blushing slightly and glancing at Sasuke, who was very interested in Karin again.

"What were these dreams like?" Karin questioned, eager to hear more.

"It was just one dream, really," Naruto said. "It repeated itself every night. It was about death… or… well… something. It's complicated. It wasn't about me though, I don't think. I don't know, but a couple of days ago, I started having different dreams. I dreamt about a therapist that I went to see and she was saying that… well… she was saying that she was going to take Sasuke"—Naruto paused, placing his hand on Sasuke's and squeezing, receiving an encouraging squeeze back—"and kill me."

A flash of worry nudged at the back of Karin's brain but curiosity was rising within her, pushing the worry away. "Naruto, these are _just_ dreams," she said as more of a question rather than a statement.

"I… Well… Umm…" Naruto stammered, unsure of exactly what to say.

"They're premonitions," Sasuke stated matter-of-factly. The tone in his voice was firm and defensive, clearly stating that it was an irrefutable fact and that she had better not try to argue it. Naruto glanced sideways at his partner and smiled. Perhaps Sasuke didn't know it, but that simple act of solidarity brought Naruto to the edge of tears. Nothing in the world was more important than Sasuke and knowing that Sasuke was on his side and supporting him made Naruto feel invincible.

Karin fought internally with herself. Naruto was having premonitions! She couldn't decide which topic to pursue first though: the fact that Naruto was seeing the future, the fact that he was obviously being targeted by Uchihas, or the fact that he was sitting in her living room _with_ an Uchiha. "You," she growled at Sasuke, narrowing her eyes and pointing an accusatory finger, making her decision plain and clear. "You sicked your family on him then?"

"What?" Sasuke asked in confusion. Naruto stared curiously between the two.

"Don't feign innocence! I know who you are! There's only one explanation for this, you _Uchiha_," Karin spat.

"What the fuck?!" Sasuke exclaimed, jumping up off of the couch and dragging Naruto up with him. "I bet _she's_ one of them, Naruto!" he accused. "She _knows who I am_?" he mocked. "That is so suspicious! She's trying to turn us against each other! She's probably been trailing us ever since we left! She's with them! _She's_ sicking my family or whoever on you! _I_ don't even know my family!" Sasuke defended himself urgently.

"I _know_ you don't, Sasuke," Naruto comforted, trying to calm Sasuke down.

"What?" Karin asked in bewilderment, all traces of anger gone to be replaced with confusion.

"Please," Sasuke sneered, rolling his eyes.

"What?!" Karin shouted angrily, unsure of what exactly she was being accused of but sure that it was offensive.

"What?" Sasuke responded defiantly, daring her to test him.

"Hey!" Naruto interjected, the most confused of all.

"WHAT?!" both Karin and Sasuke snapped at Naruto in unison.

"What?" Naruto questioned innocently, certain that he hadn't deserved such snappy responses.

Karin huffed with annoyance. "I don't even know what's happening right now!"

"Neither do I!" Naruto exclaimed. "So sit down!" he commanded, shoving Sasuke back down on the couch. "We're not going anywhere," he added firmly and sat back down himself. "Now, look, Karin. I'm going to tell you what I know and then you can talk from there." Naruto shot Sasuke a warning glare, daring him to protest. Sasuke did no such thing, so Naruto launched into his explanation quickly, pausing to take only a few breaths along the way.

"Sasuke's parents died when he was young and he was left with only his older brother, who left when Sasuke and I went off to university. Sasuke doesn't _know_ his family. From the way you're talking, you know them better than the both of us. I'm sure you know better than I do about what happened to my parents, so I won't even bother. I started having these premonitions—" Karin sucked in a breath of anticipation at the word 'premonition' and she was wondering if that's what they _truly _were, but Naruto took no notice of that and continued, "—and then we went to see Tsunade and she was suspiciously wearing Sasuke's family crest.

"Then, I had that dream about her wanting to kidnap him and kill me, so we left town. Next, I had a dream about a fire and then it was on the radio that our apartment had been burnt down." Karin released a small sigh of relief, deciding that Naruto was definitely having premonitions. He had no idea just what that meant to her. "I finally convinced Sasuke that I _could_ see the future, and we tried to work all of the facts out. We decided that Sasuke's 'family business' is definitely some sketchy shit and, for some reason, they're after Sasuke, but _I'm_ getting in the way.

"Of course, there's no way that I'm going to let them take Sasuke away from me, so now we're on the run and trying to figure this whole mess out too. We don't know what the hell is going on and maybe _you_ could help us, but don't you go blaming my boyfriend for things that he hasn't done," Naruto warned, "and _you_," Naruto continued, turning around on Sasuke, "don't go blaming my aunt or whatever she is for things that _you_ don't know whether she _has_ done or not." Naruto stared Sasuke down for a moment before Sasuke nodded his understanding.

"How can you be so sure of _him_?" Karin argued, nodding at Sasuke.

"Because I've known _him_ my whole life," Naruto argued back, "and that's more than I can say for you! Sasuke has been the only thing I've had since I was five. He was my first friend and—" Naruto's voice softened, "—he's the love of my life. He's the only reason I even made it through my hell of a childhood. I know Sasuke like the back of my hand, so trust me when I say that he doesn't have any ties with his family. I've known his father. He was a bastard, and Sasuke was mistreated."

Karin stared at Sasuke for a long moment, sizing him up. "Alright," she agreed, not at all truly convinced that he was no threat. However, she was sure that he, at least, wasn't an immediate one, so she would play nice for the time being. "But who do you think you are?!" Naruto suddenly blurted out and she turned to him with shocked eyes. "You've known about me, haven't you?"

"Ah… I…" Karin stammered. "Uh… Well… Yeah… I mean, kind of," she finally spat out.

"If you were so close to my parents, then why didn't you claim me?" Naruto questioned hotly, leaving no space for an actual answer. "You just let me be sent off with that bastard Kazuhito!" Karin flinched at the name and a look of disbelief fell over her face. Naruto interpreted this incorrectly as a reaction to his tone of voice as opposed to the actual words he had spoken or, more specifically, the actual _name_ he had spoken. "I'm sorry!" Naruto apologized quickly, feeling immediately bad for being so brash. "I shouldn't have—"

"No," Karin interrupted, snapping out of her shock. "You have every right to be angry but, Naruto… I didn't even know you were _alive_ all this time, let alone with _Kazuhito_." She spat the name with disgust. "Th-That means that… and with your visions, surely, she… she's…" Karin was overcome with emotion. Her throat tightened and tears fell freely from her eyes. Seeing her so vulnerable caused Sasuke to feel even worse for her. He felt a weird connection spring up, and his loathing for her subsided greatly.

"You didn't know I was alive?" Naruto questioned. He was now feeling infinitely regretful for his outburst, thinking that _he_ had just brought her to tears. "Wh-What? How did you not know?" Karin offered no response, and Naruto went with a change in subject. "Who are you talking about? Who is 'she'?" he asked loudly. Karin waved her hand dismissively as she tried to regain control of her emotions. "Karin!" Naruto exclaimed urgently. "Talk to me!" Karin choked on a rather heavy sob, and Naruto grew even more impatient. "Karin!" he very nearly yelled, reaching over and grabbing her arm. Sasuke snatched the offending appendage away from the crying woman and glared Naruto into submission, sending him you're-way-out-of-line vibes. Karin was _sobbing_, and Naruto was practically beating information out of her. Sasuke was shocked at Naruto's carelessness. Naruto grimaced apologetically.

"W-Well… I guess… that I… h-had better… t-tell… you e-everyth-thing then… f-from the s-start," Karin choked out.

Sasuke frowned at the way the emotion rasped her voice. There it was again, that deep connection to her pain. He didn't know this woman, but he knew her suffering. Perhaps they hadn't suffered in the same ways but suffering was suffering, and Sasuke knew suffering well. Sasuke had suffered for most of his life. This was a deep sadness that Naruto was failing to recognize right now, and Sasuke understood that this wasn't the time to have this conversation.

Sasuke sighed lightly. "We'll come back tomorrow or something," he offered softly.

Karin stifled her cries to look up at Sasuke with puffy eyes. His kindness almost made her believe that he truly was harmless, but she knew better. She knew _Uchihas_ better. He gave her an understanding smile, feeling more connected to her than he had felt to anyone other than Naruto. He was, of course, ignorant of the fact that she still continued to doubt his integrity. She returned the smile as best that she could though.

"L-Let me give you at least _s-something_," Karin insisted, looking to Naruto. Naruto glanced at Sasuke, seemingly as a reflex, and then nodded. Karin took a deep breath to steel her nerves. "You're from the ancient clan of the Uzumaki," she began slowly, trying her best to keep her voice even, "a clan of clairvoyants."

"Clairvoyants?" Naruto questioned. "What are those?"

"_You_, dumbass," Sasuke answered automatically. Naruto turned to retort, but Karin commanded their attention again.

"My inner eye has long been closed because…" Karin trailed off, thinking better of that admission, and her eyes began to cloud with fresh tears. "Well, in any case, I can no longer _see_, but I can give you something else."

"What? What is it?" Naruto asked eagerly.

Karin smiled softly. "My memories," she whispered and held her hand out for Naruto to take.

Naruto looked at her hand uncertainly for a couple of very long moments, until Sasuke eventually squeezed his thigh gently to remind him that Sasuke was there for him. He seemed to be plucked from a trance, and he took Karin's hand automatically. Naruto glanced at Sasuke again before looking back to Karin and staring into her eyes imploringly. She smiled weakly at him before sucking in a deep, ragged breath and closing her eyes. Just a moment later, Naruto mimicked her, his eyelids dropping like anchors as he sucked in his own deep breath. Sasuke's heart began beating double time. Luckily, he only had to endure a short stint of worried fretting because the exchange ended pretty quickly.

Naruto yelped and snatched his hand from Karin's in a jerky movement, his other hand instinctually sought out Sasuke. Naruto was only vaguely aware of Sasuke's arm around his shoulders or the whisper of Sasuke's fevered voice in his ear. He was too encased by Karin's eyes. They shared a long, deep gaze, in which Naruto felt as if her memories continued to pour into him, even though he had broken the contact to prevent just that. Naruto felt glued to Karin though, as if he could never look away, not until she abruptly broke the stare and crumbled into tears. Naruto began panting heavily when she did as images of broken scenes flitted across his mind. His head began to ache from the stress of it all. He only became aware of just how scared Sasuke was when Sasuke shook him roughly. Naruto snapped his head to look at Sasuke, only to see fear smeared across his face.

"Let's go," Naruto breathed, unable to offer anything else.

"Naruto, _what happened_?!" Sasuke asked urgently. Naruto didn't answer but, instead, stood abruptly and rushed out of the room.

Sasuke jumped up to follow him, but Karin caught him by the wrist. "T-Tell me you'll c-come back!" she plead. Sasuke felt exasperated and confused. What the hell had happened?! When he heard the front door open, he glanced worriedly in that direction. He knelt down beside Karin and spoke quickly.

"We'll be back tomorrow, Karin," Sasuke assured her as he patted her knee hurriedly, wanting to comfort her but wanting to get back to Naruto even more. She looked desperately into his eyes and he felt a wave of something weird wash over him. He didn't understand what she was doing to him. She was making him feel so _strange_. He wiggled his wrist from her grasp, eager to get away from the emotion. "I promise. We'll be back," he reassured her again as he stood and backed away warily. She regarded him for a moment longer before reverting back to tears.

The broken eye connection almost felt as if it was releasing Sasuke, so he wasted no more time in leaving. He was glad to find that Naruto was waiting calmly in the car, though he was staring vacantly into the dark alley and his blank expression was eerily alarming. Sasuke got into the car as well, breathing a sigh of relief and feeling more secure in the vehicle. He looked uncertainly at his friend. "Naruto, what—" he began to question.

"Just take us back," Naruto interjected, turning to look at Sasuke, who was relieved to see the light returning to Naruto's eyes. "I'll explain when we're back." Sasuke nodded, and they drove back to the motel in a silence that wasn't entirely uncomfortable.

* * *

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, and then he glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Then, he sighed. Then, he glanced back at Naruto. Then, he fidgeted with the sheets. Then, he glanced back at Naruto and cleared his throat. No response. They had been sitting on the bed for entirely too long and Sasuke was getting impatient. He had been reasonably accommodating for the past ten minutes and Naruto had been frustratingly silent. "Naruto?" he prodded expectantly, trying to suppress to edge in his voice.

Naruto seemed to snap out of another trance. He looked up and smiled apologetically at Sasuke, making Sasuke's task of not being edgy significantly easier. It was hard to be sharp with such innocent eyes. "I… I don't even know where to begin," Naruto admitted. "I don't know what she did or how she did it, but… she… she made me see things." He looked back down at his legs and furrowed his brow as he tried to make sense of it all. Again, his brain started hurting. It reminded him of the strange headaches of blinding white light that he had recently gotten.

"What kinds of things?" Sasuke asked, re-commanding Naruto's attention and effectively diminishing some of the aching.

Naruto took a short moment to gather his thoughts before speaking again. "Two little girls, both with the same head of red hair," he said. "I guess one of them was Karin. I saw them do a lot of things. You know, playing outside, eating ice cream, painting each other's nails. That sort of stuff. I guess they were really close."

"That's all?" Sasuke asked. "That seems a bit insignificant."

"Well, I also saw two blond guys. I guess… the girls fell in love with them and then they all got married together," Naruto added. "Then, it was just flashes of things that I didn't understand. A glimpse of a fight between the girls. A blonde man's severed head. Everyone was grieving, and then suddenly they were in the hospital. There was a flash of a baby. Then, all the sudden, I saw Karin standing in the middle of a village of… dead people. There was blood everywhere, and it was… I just couldn't look anymore, so I let go."

Sasuke nodded his head slowly as he digested the information. "It freaked you out, so you yelled?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded his head slowly, and Sasuke was relieved to find that the scream was not in pain but, instead, fear. Sasuke, certainly, did not want Naruto to feel fear, but it was definitely better than pain. That was for sure. "I wonder what it all means," he mused aloud.

"I don't know," Naruto answered softly. "I mean, why would she show me _those_ memories?" Naruto asked with more passion. "What was she trying to say? What was so important about _that_ stuff and _why all the blood_?" Naruto heaved a sigh. "I don't understand, Sasuke."

"Just relax," Sasuke suggested. "It'll make sense eventually."

Naruto rolled his eyes impatiently. "I can't _relax_, Sasuke. I can't get that _blood_ out of my head," he complained. "I don't want it to make sense _eventually_. I want it to make sense _now_."

"Just _try_ to relax," Sasuke insisted, rubbing Naruto's back soothingly. Naruto sighed as his body responded to the touch and his shoulders slumped. Sasuke was his kryptonite. All Sasuke had to do was touch Naruto and the blond would turn to mush. He wasn't really aware of it when Sasuke started to maneuver him to lie back on the bed, not until his head hit the pillow. He blinked a few times and saw a smiling Sasuke hovering above him. What a beautiful sight. He simply _had_ to smile back. Before he knew it, things were piecing themselves together and he was beginning to understand Karin's thoughts.

"My mother," Naruto whispered, and Sasuke's grin faltered.

"What?" Sasuke asked confusedly.

"She was my mother," Naruto answered. "Karin grew up with my _mom_."

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked, cocking his head curiously. Perhaps, even a bit of worry edged in, for the topic of Naruto's parents was never easy.

Naruto nodded certainly. "Positive. It's kind of all starting to come together now in my head," he said.

Sasuke grinned again, determined to be a reassuring sight. If one thing was true, it was that Naruto liked smiling faces, especially when it was Sasuke's face smiling. "What else?" he asked, laying down and nestling up to Naruto's side.

"I… I don't know, Sasuke," Naruto sighed, wrapping his arm around his lover's shoulders and pulling him closer still. "It's not _that_ together."

"That's fine," Sasuke said lightly. "Just close your eyes and _relax,_" he insisted. Naruto did just that, Sasuke's voice forcing him into a state of serenity that he couldn't fight, even if he had _wanted_ to. Naruto listened to Sasuke's rhythmic breathing, his favorite sound, dictating his own heartbeat.

"I get the word anchor, but I don't know what it means," Naruto said, breaking the long silence.

Sasuke cleared his throat gently. "Uh... Naru..." he began uncertainly, "you... uh... don't know what an _anchor_ is?" Sasuke asked quietly, trying very hard not to make his blond feel stupid, even if it truly was an idiotic thing to not know. More often than not, Sasuke was blunt and got right to the point. That approach often rubbed his sensitive companion in completely the wrong ways, but he certainly never _wanted_ to make Naruto feel stupid. This time, he was glad that he had the sense to proofread his response and keep himself from offending Naruto as he so often did. Really, though, was it _his_ fault that he was just more intelligent and that Naruto tended to make the stupidest mistakes or not know the most obvious things? Sasuke thought not.

Naruto rolled his eyes, but he smiled. At least the teme was nice about it for once. "No, it's not _that_ kind of anchor," he answered. "It means something else. I just... don't know what."

"Okay," Sasuke said softly, inwardly rejoicing the fact that his blond wasn't as stupid as he had just seemed to be. "Go on," Sasuke urged. He didn't get restless, however, when Naruto chose to initiate another long silence. He was content to trail his hand in slow patterns across Naruto's chest until Naruto was ready to speak again.

"I think that there were visions," Naruto finally started up again. "I don't really know."

"Alright," Sasuke said softly in a very understanding tone that said 'that's good enough for me'. He didn't want to pressure Naruto, even if he was really goddamn curious. That was the opposite of relaxing though, and Naruto just needed to relax. He didn't handle stress well, not at all like Sasuke.

"They shared visions... maybe," Naruto went on uncertainly, feeling confused but understanding a lot more than he had before. "They saw my dad, I think…" Naruto paused to collect his thoughts before continuing, "and then they met him some time later… and his brother, Akihiko. He married Karin. Dad married mom." Naruto paused again and scrunched his face up in thought, glad that Sasuke couldn't see. Sasuke didn't intentionally put Naruto down—well, sometimes he did. They _did_ have a lot of childish fights and the very nickname dobe began as a put down, but those fights had long ceased_—_but Naruto would feel stupid if Sasuke saw just how much effort Naruto had to put into just figuring out some stupid memories that had practically been handed to him on a silver platter. "Then… Akihiko died. No, he was murdered," Naruto went on, feeling more confident that what he was reciting was fact. "Then… mom and Karin were pregnant, but Karin was gonna have an abortion. Mom tried to stop her though… Then, they were in a… hospital room… Then…" Naruto trailed off.

"Then what?" Sasuke asked after a moment's pause.

"There was two of… me? I… I don't know…" Naruto said uncertainly. "No, it was Karin's baby. It just looked like me… and…" Naruto gulped hard as the images of blood came back to him.

"And what?" Sasuke prompted.

"I don't know, Sasuke," Naruto groaned. "None of this makes any sense to me."

Sasuke nuzzled into his lover's neck. "It's fine," he cooed. "You don't _have_ to think about it if you don't want to, Naruto."

Naruto fluttered his eyes open. "I love you," he whispered. Sasuke chuckled lightly, recognizing the familiar husk forming in Naruto's voice. Apparently, all it took was a nuzzle to rile him up tonight.

"I love you too," Sasuke said, nibbling Naruto's neck gently and planting a kiss against the skin there.

Naruto sighed appreciatively, rubbing his hand slowly down Sasuke's back. Once he reached the hem of Sasuke's shirt, he slipped his palm beneath it and began to ghost his fingers back up the spine. Sasuke threw a leg between Naruto's thighs and pushed himself against the blond entirely. Naruto bit his lip and smiled, feeling a bit antsy about what that action promised him. Sasuke positioned himself slightly on top of Naruto and began kissing his neck more sensually. Naruto responded with quiet sighs. Sasuke always knew the right spots to focus on. He sucked in a particularly sensitive patch of skin and Naruto gasped, pressing Sasuke further into his side with his palm at the small of Sasuke's back. Sasuke nipped the skin before releasing it and then licking it apologetically.

One of Sasuke's hands edged stealthily down Naruto's torso. When his pale fingers reached the bottom of the shirt, they snuck underneath to brush against a tan hip, causing Naruto's hips to buck automatically. Sasuke clasped the hip gently and rubbed his thumb against it in circles. Naruto's hand against Sasuke's back urged Sasuke's growing member to grind against Naruto's other hip. Sasuke let out a short huff of pleasure against Naruto's neck, moving his thigh strategically to award Naruto with the same friction against his own bulge. Sasuke decided at that moment that there was just no more room for foreplay. He wanted things to be underway like, five minutes ago, so he quickly straddled Naruto. Sasuke ground down into Naruto's hips hard, and Naruto practically bit through his lip stifling a moan.

Automatically, Naruto responded with a hastiness of his own, relieving Sasuke of his troublesome shirt. Sasuke did not give Naruto the time to fully appreciate his naked torso though, for he was pulling the blonde's shirt over his head only seconds after having lost his own. Sasuke was already kissing Naruto hungrily by the time Naruto's head popped out of his clothing. One of Sasuke's hands made quick work of unbuttoning Naruto's jeans and sliding the zipper down. Then, there were warm fingers slipping beneath the hem of orange boxers and a satisfying pressure was applied to Naruto's member.

It wasn't that Naruto didn't appreciate Sasuke's vigor, because he definitely did. Naruto was all for a rough rump, and Sasuke was always impatient. There was just some part of Naruto that screamed 'no' this time. Before Naruto could question his inner self though, he was already nudging Sasuke gently away. As soon as Sasuke's lips detached, Naruto whispered against them, "Slowly. Gently." When he received no immediate response other than Sasuke palming him more determinedly, he repeated himself more softly, as if an extremely delicate tone would be more effective, "Gently."

Naruto opened his eyes halfway to peer into Sasuke's depths, hoping that he hadn't ruined the mood or anything. Sasuke didn't exactly like to stall when he had a good momentum going. That was never usually an issue though because when Naruto got going, he _really_ got going. Sasuke responded with a smile though. The look in his eyes was not disappointment. They actually softened a bit as the urge to simply ravish his blond dissipated. He supposed that a bit of foreplay wouldn't kill him. If Naruto liked it, then he liked it.

A slight nod of his head and then Sasuke was kissing Naruto again, except much softer. Naruto's eyes fluttered shut. He found this type of connection to be much more satisfying tonight. Their tongues did not battle as they so often did. Instead, they took turns exploring the other with soft, loving strokes. It would only be a matter of seconds before Sasuke released the reigns and allowed Naruto the control that he craved.

Naruto trailed his fingertips lightly up Sasuke's side and in toward his spine. Sasuke arched his back in response and ground down slowly as one of his own hands explored Naruto's chest, his other hand being busied by supporting his weight. Naruto dragged one hand back down Sasuke's back and left the other to dig into the hair at the base of Sasuke's neck. He let a subtle roughness peek through when he pulled the short strands tight. It was the part of Sasuke's neck where such an action felt electrifying, so Sasuke bit his lip and sighed in response as his hips rocked automatically, the combination shooting tingles all the way down to his toes.

For some reason, a tame Naruto always left Sasuke feeling useless. His body would literally go momentarily numb when touched by Naruto so softly, only to reanimate with a prickling sensation a second later. His limbs were inept. His muscles twitched and very nearly ached with the tension that they built up. He swore that he could feel fingertips still inches from touching him. He could feel every strand of hair before it even made contact. He could feel every wisp of Naruto's breath before it ever even left his lips. His senses peaked intensely and he was overly aware of the air surrounding him, as if he was blindfolded, except he wasn't blindfolded. Naruto just simply had that effect on him.

It wasn't all that often that Naruto wanted to be docile but when he did, Sasuke would literally lose his breath. His vision would blur, the only thing they ever truly caught sight of being Naruto's intense eyes. His lips would tremble, making it impossible to speak any comprehensible words. He often communicated through pants, whimpers, and moans. That was alright though, because Naruto understood Sasuke completely. He recognized every movement that every muscle could possibly make, and he knew exactly what to do, how to do it, and where to do it to leave Sasuke senseless. Sasuke often felt on the brink of fainting at how breathtaking Naruto could be. When he was gentle, he was charged to the brim with electricity. Hell, even when he _was_ rough he was electrifying.

It was all in the way that Naruto's fingers just barely touched Sasuke's skin. It was in the way that Naruto's kisses were soft and laced with love. It was the way that his tongue lapped appreciatively, as if every inch of Sasuke's skin was a decadent morsel. It was the way that Naruto moved every part of his body in slow motion, as if Sasuke was a fragile doll that Naruto was to cherish. All of it had Sasuke swimming in ecstasy, and Naruto knew that. In fact, that was the only reason that he ever even opted for such subdued love-making, just because he knew that Sasuke was a sucker for it, not that Naruto detested it or anything. Naruto also enjoyed switching out a good fuck for sensual love-making. Tenderness was not lost on Naruto, not at all. He enjoyed enjoying Sasuke this way too.

He enjoyed the way that Sasuke's breath hitched at very nearly everything. All Naruto had to do was breathe on the pale skin and Sasuke was in shambles. He enjoyed the way that sparks erupted when they made contact, causing Sasuke's heart to race into oblivion. He enjoyed the way that Sasuke's eyes rolled to the back of his head when he lost control. He enjoyed the way that Sasuke's fingers trembled as they tried to reciprocate some of that ecstasy, even though Naruto was fine to just appreciate the way that Sasuke savored it. He enjoyed every quake and quiver of Sasuke's body.

Tenderness was one of the only things that Sasuke actually enjoyed, of his _own_ volition, in bed. More often than not, Sasuke simply got turned on just because Naruto was turned on, but this was something else entirely. These tempered sessions were Sasuke's kryptonite. He enjoyed them entirely, and it wasn't just Sasuke reacting to Naruto's reactions, because Sasuke's eyes were screwed shut most of the time. This was Sasuke's true fancy, just like being rough was Naruto's fancy—not to say that they both didn't enjoy it either way too. In fact, Naruto was already as hard as a rock just from touching Sasuke and watching him react, and he hadn't even made it below the waist yet. Just as Sasuke enjoyed Naruto's pleasure, Naruto greatly enjoyed Sasuke's pleasure, but Naruto and Sasuke would both agree that sex is mostly just that anyway. Your partner's pleasure is your pleasure.

Sasuke's back arched high again, forcing him to pull away from the kiss, when Naruto's fingers ghosted across the sensitive skin at the small of his back. Naruto took the opportunity to brush his lips against Sasuke's collarbone, finding reward in a breathy moan. He licked the skin before sucking on it and causing the arm supporting Sasuke's weight to buckle. Naruto, then, switched positions to lay Sasuke onto his back effortlessly. It was so gentle, in fact, that Sasuke wasn't even aware he had moved at all, not until Naruto's hand was replaced with a pillow.

Naruto settled easily in between Sasuke's thighs, so gently that Sasuke wasn't even sure if Naruto was really there or if he was just imagining it all. It was pretty plausible that this level of intensity wasn't even real. It did seem a bit too euphoric to be true. It had been a good stretch of time since Naruto last demonstrated this level of restraint. Naruto lightly kissed along Sasuke's neck, using a hand to slowly unbutton Sasuke's pants. He opted to, instead, palm Sasuke's erection from the outside of his jeans though. Sasuke, then, knew that this was very, very real and thank fucking god for that.

When Sasuke groaned at the touch, Naruto moaned himself and palmed Sasuke again with more fervor. The way that his shallow pants fanned across Sasuke's moist neck had Sasuke's hands snapping to Naruto's back in pleasant shock. He dug his nails into the skin and moaned deeply when Naruto palmed him still more firmly through his clothing. Naruto smirked, letting another heavy pant work its magic on Sasuke's neck. Sasuke arched his back once more, if it ever even relaxed to begin with.

Slowly, Naruto kissed a path across Sasuke's throat to the other side of his neck. He paused to nip lightly at the junction of neck and shoulder before licking a gentle trail up to Sasuke's ear. Sasuke squirmed beneath Naruto, silently begging for more contact in his nether regions. When Naruto reached the shell of Sasuke's ear, he bit the skin lightly and thrust his hips against Sasuke's, breathing heavily into Sasuke's ear. Sasuke drug his nails roughly down Naruto's back and released a loud moan. Naruto had to remind himself that this was Sasuke's time, not his. He would not be rough, no matter how much Sasuke's nails digging into his back urged him to do so. Naruto repeated the thrust again and Sasuke released what sounded like a strangled howl, wrapping his legs firmly around Naruto's waist and scratching new pathways into his back.

"Sasuke…" Naruto drawled out in a deep, sensual whisper. Sasuke's response was a whimper. "How do you want me?" Naruto asked just as softly. Sasuke swallowed thickly and tried to answer, but failed completely. Naruto peered at Sasuke's face to see Sasuke's lips moving slightly, but the only things coming out were more whimpers and broken words. Naruto grinned. Job well done, so far.

"Drawer… F-Fuck… B-Bought it…" Sasuke breathed out, bucking his hips to get Naruto to continue his ministrations.

Naruto thrust his hips again very slowly but firmly in compliance. "Bought what?" he whispered right against Sasuke's ear. Sasuke drew out a long moan that was bordering desperate.

"Lube… Drawer… Fuck!" he exclaimed breathlessly.

Lazily, because there was absolutely no need to rush, Naruto reached over and opened the drawer, blindly reaching in and finding the alleged lube. He smirked. He didn't care how or when Sasuke had bought it. All that mattered was that he had. Naruto placed the tube of lube on Sasuke's chest as he leaned back to sit upright. Sasuke whined at the loss of contact but moved his hands to rest on Naruto's thighs instead.

Slowly, Naruto unzipped Sasuke's pants and watched Sasuke's lip take a great deal of abuse in his anticipation. He paused when the task was done, staring Sasuke down with lascivious eyes and simply waiting. After a few moments of annoying nothingness, Sasuke finally opened his eyes to half mast. He stared at Naruto through a thick haze. It took him a couple of tries to speak properly.

"Wh… Wh… What?" Sasuke asked, trying to raise a questioning brow in vain. His brain was jumbling up its commands in its frenzy though. The only things that he felt truly equipped to do were pant and scream. Naruto was making him do something else completely though, something far too complicated. Sasuke wasn't sure that he even _could_ talk, and Naruto already knew that Sasuke was lost deep in lala land. Sasuke was sure that the blond was simply exploiting the fruit of his mischief for his own enjoyment. What was Sasuke, a TV show? Naruto was a damn tease, not that Sasuke was complaining. He was a damn good tease, and Sasuke fucking loved him.

Naruto nodded at the lube. "Your call," he said quietly, licking his lips slowly and loving the way that Sasuke's eyes followed his tongue raptly. After a few moments of Sasuke being lost in what seemed like a trance, Naruto spoke again. "Sasuke?" he whispered, teasingly raking his fingers down the boy's stomach and slipping his fingers just underneath the hem of his black boxers.

"Fuck," Sasuke breathed out, still lost in all of Naruto's sexiness.

Naruto slid his palm up Sasuke's torso and rubbed his thumb over a nipple. Sasuke's eyes were still locked on Naruto's lips, which were parted and positively inviting. Only when Naruto pinched his nipple did Sasuke snap to attention. It wasn't the kind of attention that Naruto had wanted though. Sasuke's eyes slid shut again, and he gripped Naruto's sides tightly to pull himself up and closer to the blond so that he could just kiss those beckoning lips. Naruto rolled his eyes. He was enjoying this and all, but Sasuke had to make some decisions already. Who the fuck was topping? Gently, Naruto pushed Sasuke back down to lay flat on the bed. That got Naruto what he wanted. Sasuke opened his eyes and frowned at Naruto.

"What?" Sasuke asked, perhaps a bit too sharply.

Naruto chuckled at the irritation peaking in Sasuke's voice. He flicked the bottle of lube on Sasuke's chest, and Sasuke finally looked at it. "Your call," Naruto said again.

Sasuke eyed the bottle for a few long, calculating moments. At least that's what Naruto thought that he was doing. Eventually, Sasuke looked back up at Naruto and asked innocently, "What'd you say?"

Naruto raised a brow. "You didn't hear me?" he asked, not sure if Sasuke was pretending or, more importantly, _why_ he would pretend. Sasuke shook his head 'no' slowly. "You weren't just looking at the lube and deciding who would top?" Naruto asked, raising his skeptical brow even higher. Sasuke shook his head 'no' again, his cheeks reddening with a light blush. "So what were you looking at?" Naruto asked. Sasuke's blush deepened and he glanced down.

Naruto followed Sasuke's gaze down to his own crotch and noticed that his length bulged out far past his zipper, apparently demanding all of Sasuke's attention. He snorted with laughter. Sasuke was clearly stuck on one track at the moment. Naruto shook his head and leaned down to kiss his lover lightly on the lips. Sasuke instantly tried to deepen the kiss, glad that they were back to a language that he could understand. Naruto wouldn't let him though.

"I said, gently," Naruto reiterated, pulling away but staying close enough for Sasuke to feel every word against his lips. Sasuke groaned, partly with dismay but mostly with pleasure. "I'm topping," Naruto declared quietly. It really wasn't rocket science. Sasuke always bottomed in these situations. Both boys were pretty sure that Sasuke couldn't even support his own weight, let alone do most of the work. Sasuke gripped Naruto's sides with his hands tightly though, and Naruto thought that it was actually a protest for moment. That was, until Sasuke spoke.

"Fine," Sasuke breathed, "just fuck me already, dobe."

Naruto smirked. "Not tonight, teme," he answered quietly. He chuckled softly at the way Sasuke's face screwed up into pure disappointment. "Don't worry," Naruto reassured. "Tonight, I'm not going to fuck you. I'm going to love you," he corrected.

Naruto kissed Sasuke again, resuming a slow exploration of Sasuke's chest. He scratched collar bones, tweaked nipples, caressed sides. Yes, he would give the teme what he wanted, but Sasuke would have to wait for it. Naruto would be slow and thoughtful with his hands. He would coax Sasuke back into that trance of ecstasy at a leisurely pace. He would barely touch, barely kiss, and barely thrust, and Sasuke would twist and writhe beneath him. He would heighten his lover's senses until every hair on Sasuke's body was raised indefinitely. He would make Sasuke wait, and then he would make Sasuke beg.

When he finally got to the part where lube was even necessary, he wouldn't be hasty. He would take it slow and steady, very slow and very steady. He would push Sasuke over the edge with every stroke of his finger. He would nudge Sasuke closer to completion. As always, he would milk Sasuke dry as many times as possible before finally indulging in Sasuke himself, and when he _did_ enter Sasuke at last, he would take his sweet time. It would be slow, but Sasuke would feel Naruto's love flow into him with every gradual inch.

No, Naruto wouldn't fuck Sasuke, not at all. That was too raunchy, too detached. Tonight, they would make love. Naruto would make so much love so deeply to Sasuke that they would be bursting with it by the end of the night. Sasuke would understand just how in love Naruto was with him, just how much Naruto couldn't survive without him. Sasuke would just understand everything in Naruto's heart because that's how they were. All that it took was a few calculated touches for the pair to understand each other on the most basic of levels. They were practically one, and that was how Naruto wanted it to always be, so he would strip his lover down to basics tonight and fulfill his deepest desires.

His lips slowly made their way down between Sasuke's flexing abs, slowly enough to cause Sasuke to squirm impatiently. His mouth paid each of Sasuke's hip bones ample attention, leaving the lightest of marks in their place. Finally, his fingers moved cloth to reveal dark curls, which held a prize. At this rate, Sasuke would cum just from having his pants removed, but that was fine with Naruto. Sasuke would cum many times tonight, and the more the better. Every time Naruto brought Sasuke into that ecstasy, he brought Sasuke closer to him, closer to his heart. Each time was a tender proclamation of Naruto's love, and his silent sentiments paired with Sasuke's screams of euphoria always made music to his ears. It was the sound of two people truly coming together, and it was a sound that would never wear down.

Naruto could listen to it all night. In fact, he just might if he played this right.

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**A/N:** Here's is the link to Karin's house. Don't forget to replace the **DOT**s with actual dots and by actual dots, I do not mean the ice cream. I mean periods and by periods, I don't mean shark week either. I'm talking punctuation, people.

i169 **DOT **photobucket** DOT **com/albums/u226/RainbowsWorthRain/Fic-Related/KarinsPlace **DOT **png


	11. Chapter 11: Uchiha

**A/N:** A giant thanks goes out to my beta, **Clumsy Ninjable**. She is a life saver. This story would literally be a whole other, messier thing if not for her xD Worship Clumsy like your god, and go check out her profile. Support her because she _definitely_ supports me and I'd be drowning without that :)

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**Chapter Eleven: Uchiha**

Sasuke sucked in a nervous breath as he stared down Karin's door, working up the nerve to knock on it. He was even less sure of her after the previous day's events. She had really freaked him out. He supposed that she didn't do anything _that_ weird to either of them, but Sasuke still felt shaken. He wasn't finding it so easy to put on a brave face just yet. He needed a few moments to collect his thou—

***KNOCK*KNOCK***

Sasuke leveled a glare on Naruto. "Dobe," he growled.

"What?" Naruto asked innocently.

"I was going to do that," Sasuke ground out.

"You were taking too long," Naruto replied with a nonchalant shrug.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Just because you're—" he began to argue before the door opened and he snapped to attention, switching on his collected composure. Karin stood smiling widely at the pair. Sasuke had to fight the urge to wince. Had she really forgotten all of yesterday's tension so easily?

"Good morning!" Karin said cheerfully. "I'm so glad to see you!"

"Right back at ya!" Naruto replied gleefully. Sasuke looked incredulously at his partner. What the fuck? Did Naruto just _forget_ too? Apparently, Naruto was right back to his typical self again. Maybe it was an Uzumaki thing. Do weird shit and then pretend that you didn't the next day. Sasuke raised a skeptical brow at both Uzumakis as he followed Naruto into the house.

"I expect you know where to go," Karin said with a great, big smile.

"Sure do!" Naruto proclaimed as he moved into the living room. Sasuke's skeptical brow rose again. Seriously, _what the fuck_?

"Gas is still off, so I hope you can make do with water or juice," Karin said.

"Water," Naruto answered with a warm grin, sitting down on the couch. He pulled Sasuke down too when he noticed Sasuke's scrutiny and added smoothly, "for the both of us." Karin nodded and left to the kitchen. Naruto dropped his grin as soon as her back was turned. "What's your deal?!" he snapped in a whisper, rounding on Sasuke quickly.

"…Nothing?" Sasuke answered. Another rise in his brow portrayed his confusion at the switch in attitude.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Look, I want this to be pleasant, Sasuke, so stop looking at her like she's some sort of alien or something," he said sternly.

Sasuke's brow shot up to the heavens. "What? Are you afraid I'm going to hurt her feelings or something?" he asked, rather annoyed that Naruto was so negligent of his feelings but so damn concerned about a stranger's.

"You are queen of the bitches, so yeah," Naruto answered, his eyes flaring up with amusement at his own quip. Sasuke wanted to feel offended, but his lips betrayed him and quirked into a tiny grin. "Just relax," Naruto went on more seriously. "She hasn't turned into an ax murderer yet, so give her chance. Chill out."

Sasuke stayed silent for a moment, thinking over the facts. No, she hadn't _killed_ them, but she _did_ freak them both out pretty severely. Apparently, that was really easy for Naruto to get over though. Sasuke, on the other hand, was damn curious about _how_ Karin did those things and _what the fuck_ she did them for. He couldn't just relax when he had no clue what he was facing. He would appease his blond though, so he nodded his understanding and tried to fake some sort of relaxation.

Karin returned with water for the three of them and sat down in her chair, smiling brightly at the pair of boys. "How was your night?" she asked pleasantly.

"It was fine, thank you, and yours?" Naruto replied. Sasuke rolled his eyes. This was not the time for idle chit-chat.

"Is that really what we're here to talk about?" Sasuke asked impatiently. Naruto leveled Sasuke with a reprimanding glare, and Sasuke huffed. "I just mean that… we should…" Sasuke cleared his throat. "How _was_ your night then, Karin?" Sasuke asked, giving in to pleasantries.

Karin giggled. "Oh, please. You're right, Sasuke. That's not at all what we're here to talk about, so let's just get to it," she replied, and Sasuke was suddenly very fond of her and her new no-nonsense attitude.

"Great," Sasuke said with a satisfied smirk.

"Then, what did you do to me?" Naruto asked, suddenly very serious. His cheeky grin was now a distant memory.

Karin's grin fell too. "I didn't _do_ anything to you, Naruto. I _gave_ you my memories." She paused for a reaction, but all she got was a sharp nod from Naruto that told her to continue. "I was in no position to talk yesterday, and you'll have to forgive me for that. It's just that it was too much to handle at once. I couldn't get myself together, but I wanted you to take something away with you anyway. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best idea. You had no clue what was happening. You didn't even get everything before you pulled away, so you were probably just confused."

"Yeah, that about explains it," Naruto replied, disgruntled.

"I didn't mean to frighten you. I just wanted to help. I can explain it all now though. I'm in much better spirits today. You see, I've been able to process the fact that you're alive and that means _so much_ to me," Karin said with a loving smile. "_You_ mean so much to me." Naruto fought to remain serious, but the flattery nudged him into a sheepish grin. He scratched the back of his neck nervously, causing Karin to giggle. "You really are your father's son," she pointed out.

"Am I?" Naruto inquired curiously. His eyes lit up.

"Oh, yes," Karin confirmed. "He had that same nervous tic. He was always scratching at the back of his head like that, Aki too. They were like twins, if you ask me. It was precious then, and it's precious now," she informed reverently.

"Aki…" Naruto repeated thoughtfully. "Akihiko?" he asked, and Karin nodded yes. "Isn't he your husband?"

Karin looked positively pleased, though sadness still came attached to the name. "Yes, he was my husband. It seems that you _did_ get something from my memories then," she pointed out. "Even if you are uneducated, you're still an Uzumaki. If you simply let it be, your instincts will always take over. You subconsciously understood what I was doing, even when you consciously couldn't."

"I guess," Naruto agreed. "Sasuke calmed me down and then things just kind of started coming to me, like my visions do, except I was awake."

Karin nodded. "Yes, that's what I do, Naruto. As I said, it's been many years since I've had the gift of vision. I can no longer see beyond the normal realm of vision. What I'm left with are but thoughts and memories of the past. My inner eye has long been closed, but I do still have the power to share," Karin explained.

"So you just… gave him your thoughts?" Sasuke asked skeptically.

"That's exactly what I did," Karin confirmed with a smile.

"Can you do that to anyone?" Sasuke asked.

Karin shrugged. "I know that I could cause some dreams, intense feelings, or déjà vu, but it would be very broken up and confusing. I _have_ heard stories before of people taking to imprinting much like an Uzumaki would. I've never actually seen that happen, but I guess it could be possible," she answered.

"And what's imprinting?" Sasuke asked.

"Giving your thoughts, visions, memories, or whatever else to someone in the same way that I gave them to Naruto," Karin replied. "I could definitely leave traces in a normal person's mind, but no one other than an Uzumaki could truly and completely receive what I imprint. At least that's how it's been in my experience. As I said, there have been stories though. I do know that none of us can _make_ anyone see. That's something you're either born with or you're not." Sasuke nodded dismally, a bit put off by the information.

This was the first thing that he and Naruto couldn't share. To be honest, it made him uneasy. He had no idea what Karin could actually be doing. Sure, she was Naruto's aunt, but that didn't mean that she wasn't conniving. They had no clue what her motives could be. Sasuke couldn't be a part of this particular experience though. If Naruto was being manipulated, there was really nothing that Sasuke could do.

It wasn't that Sasuke thought Naruto was helpless or anything. It was just that Sasuke had always been there to protect him, whether Naruto had asked for it or not. Sasuke wasn't sure how he would cope now that he was being forced to back off. He had to trust Naruto to be smart but that was hard, only because Naruto had such a big heart. He could be too easily tricked. That worried Sasuke, but all he could do now was sit back, watch, and speculate. He wasn't allowed on this ride, and he felt helpless. It was a scary feeling that he was unfamiliar with, and he absolutely hated it.

There was only one way to be sure of Karin and her motives, and that was to poke and prod. Maybe Sasuke didn't have the gift to see "beyond the normal realm of vision", but Sasuke _did_ have the gift of eyesight. He could read Karin just as easily as he could read anyone else. If he asked enough questions, he could get a good picture of who she was just from her answers. Whether she told lies or not, her body language would be brutally honest.

"How did you lose your inner eye?" Sasuke asked. Karin's eyes blanked for a moment, and her shoulders slumped. Sadness. Sasuke was sure of that. Despite his resolution to scrutinize her, he felt that odd connection return. He could identify with her pain and, try as he might, he couldn't turn that switch off.

"Well," Karin began, looking sad but remaining calm, "when one loses their anchor, they lose their inner eye."

"Anchor. I know that word. I picked it out last night," Naruto piped in.

"All Uzumakis are born with anchors. Anchors are partners who keep our abilities grounded. They keep our eyes open and functioning." Upon seeing the lack of understanding in Naruto's eyes, Karin dumbed it down. "Think of it this way. If you and I are anchors, Naruto, then there is a string connecting our hearts. There is a constant flow of information travelling along that string. We are constantly and completely aware of each other's being. It's a connection that serves to keep the inner eye active. If it isn't active, it closes. If it closes, you can no longer see," Karin explained.

"So it's like reading each other's minds?" Naruto deduced.

"Well, not exactly," Karin replied. "We don't have to share everything. You can select emotions, visions, and thoughts to share but keep the rest to yourself. In fact, it's better if you don't share everything. If you don't control the connection, the constant onslaught of information would just be too overwhelming. You wouldn't be able to separate yourself from your partner. That's why it's so important to establish a connection as quickly as possible. It takes a few days to learn with the right guidance, but it feels really natural fairly fast. Once that connection is set in stone, you can communicate with each other from anywhere. When you lose your anchor though, your eye closes."

"So… you lost your anchor?" Naruto asked.

Karin nodded sadly. "Yes, when we were still young."

"And what happens after that?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, in our clan, power is in numbers," Karin began. "I could still feed off the energy of other clan members. Their activity was enough to reopen my eye and reactivate my abilities in their presence. The only catch was that I had to be with, at least, five or more active clansmen for that to work. Without a sufficient amount of energy flowing around, the eye stays closed. That was never an issue back then, though, because I never left my clansmen. That being said, I was still able to see, even after my anchor had passed. I chose a different path though."

"Path? Like a job?" Sasuke asked.

Karin shrugged. "I wouldn't say a job, exactly, but something of that sort. In the clan, everyone could see. Visions come naturally to us, but we may call upon them if we choose. We used our visions to earn money from other clans. The visions that we get naturally typically pertain only to ourselves or those very close to us. We have the ability to seek anything we wish though, like specific dates, times, people, or events. Not everyone did it for money. That in itself was a job. Many people held normal jobs within the clan, like shopkeepers, doctors, and shoemakers.

"Those whose jobs were within a special task force, though, were given missions by the head of the clan. I was part of that task force, so my job was once to consult with clients and actively seek whatever they asked of me. When my inner eye was compromised, however, things changed for me. At that time, we still did all of our consultations on the clan reservation, so I was always around active members, no matter where I went. I could still call upon the threads of fate as I chose. As I said though, I chose to follow a different path. I took a position as a clan elder, meaning that my 'job' was no longer to seek visions but to share my knowledge with the clan's children instead," Karin explained.

"Like you did with Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Exactly like that," Karin answered. "My purpose was to pass my teachings on to them by imprinting them with my own experiences. The method of imprinting also helps kick-start the inner eye's energy, so while I was passing on my own lessons, the children's eyes were reacting to my energy. It helped them develop quicker so that they could start to see at younger ages. I was still able to get visions and I often did, but I did not actively seek them. That was no longer my job. I chose to focus my energy, instead, on my new position. It was an honor to be offered such a title."

"And how did you come to be blessed with such an honor?" Sasuke asked.

"Well, my anchor became head of the clan. It was also often said that us two were the start of a new age. They were eager to offer me such a high position. Not to mention, my father was well-received among the elders," Karin replied.

"And who was your anchor?" Sasuke asked.

Karin sighed, a bit weary of Sasuke's relentlessness by this point. "Did you not get that from what I shared with you, Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto stared at her for a short moment before his eyes widened with understanding. "My mother?" he asked.

"Yes," Karin said with a soft smile. "Your mother was my anchor. We were connected for life. We grew up together. We had our first vision together, as all pairs do. We met our husbands together. We even married together. Our lives were almost perfectly parallel. That was, of course, until…" She trailed off and looked down at her knees.

"Until she died?" Naruto asked.

Karin chuckled dryly at Naruto's bluntness, musing internally that Sasuke must have rubbed off on him. "Well, I _was_ going to say until my husband died and hers didn't, but I suppose you're still right," she replied.

"That's why you were all in the hospital, then? Dad was there with you guys. I saw that," Naruto said.

"I did give you that image, but we weren't there because she was dying. We were there because she was giving birth," Karin corrected.

"To me?" Naruto asked.

Karin chuckled again. "I _think_ it was you," she jested. Naruto was hardly affected by her stab at a joke though.

"So why were _you_ there?" Naruto asked confusedly.

Karin averted her eyes, and Sasuke made a mental note of the way that her muscles tensed and her brows knit. In truth, it was hard for Karin to hear those words. Naruto was so ignorant of their connection. He had no idea who Karin was to him. He had no memory of her or her role in his life. That made her angry at the bastards who stole him away from her, who caused this rift between them. She was just a stranger to him, and that hurt. She only let the feelings fester for a moment, though, before looking back at Naruto and taking back up her light, airy attitude.

"I was having a baby too. Why else?" Karin answered. The confused furrowing of Naruto's brows was enough to prompt her to continue. "Your mother and I had a connection deeper than can ever be explained. I would have been there for your birth, whether I was having a beautiful baby girl or not. I _was_ giving birth, though, and to your anchor. You would have to be born at the same time for that sort of a theory to work out properly. Just as your mother and I shared a birthday, our children shared a birthday."

"So… I don't have a twin?" Naruto asked, and Karin chuckled.

"Not at all. Is that what you thought it was?" Karin asked.

"I don't know what I thought it was. I was _confused_," Naruto said. "It was all broken up in my mind. I didn't understand any of it."

"Again, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you, but it makes it harder to receive if you fight it. You do not have a twin though. No, what you have is… a soul-mate if you will," Karin informed.

"Soul-mate?!" Naruto exclaimed, suddenly feeling panicked. He didn't really _want_ a soul-mate. It was cool if he had like a sisterly/cousin sort of thing, but a soul-mate was too far. That wasn't cool! "B-But I… I don't want… I like… I have Sasuke!"

Karin giggled. "Not _that_ kind of soul-mate," she assured. "I didn't marry your mother, did I?"

"I guess not," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling nervously.

"What I meant was that your souls are connected," Karin explained, "like your mother and I were connected, like every Uzumaki was connected to someone else. That's why we share our first and last vision, and then some along the way. Sharing your thoughts and emotions so deeply with someone will bring you closer than you can ever imagine. I would even venture to say that the last vision Kushina and I shared brought us even closer than we'd ever been."

"And what was that?" Sasuke asked. "If I may ask," he added as an afterthought.

Karin nodded at him. "We had our very last vision in that delivery room here in Whistler. The clan reservation is a short way off into the wilderness, but we often came into town for things like child-birth. Even if we kept to our traditional ways, modern technology was just the better option for certain things. Anyway, both of our children came out looking like twins with heads full of bright yellow hair and the most brilliant blue eyes. You looked strikingly like your fathers, who looked strikingly like each other." Karin's voice quieted a bit as she tried to keep her voice even.

"We had no clue then_…_ that Kushina was dying. She was just so calm. She had both of you in her arms while she smiled across the room at me, crying but beaming at the same time. That's how I remember her, too. She wanted to name you Naruto because that's what Akihiko always insisted on naming our child. It, of course, was _not_ a name fit for a lady though." Karin chuckled lightly at the memory. "Your father was happy to honor his brother with his son. Ramen was always Aki's favorite. We were always trying to get him to eat healthy, but he just wouldn't have it." Karin paused and looked down at her knees, smiling at the memories.

Sasuke took the opportunity to slip in a quip. "Sounds like someone I know," he said playfully, smiling at Naruto and nudging him in the side. Naruto offered back a weak smile of his own.

Karin chuckled so lightly that it was almost undetectable. "Well, I sure see a lot of both Minato and Akihiko in you and a lot of your mother too. You've got the best traits of them all. Though, you _would_ do well to eat more than just ramen."

Naruto forced another smile. He was just feeling so damn emotional over the whole thing though, and why shouldn't he? This was his family. It was his mother, his father, his uncle. It was his life, and it felt like a life that he had never even known. He had been cut off from these memories. These recantations of Karin's were all that Naruto had to hold on to. They were the only proof that he even had parents. The thought of it all made Naruto want to cry, though he did no such thing. He held the tears back, not wanting to push Karin to a point where she couldn't talk again.

Sasuke was glad to see that Naruto's tears weren't tears of sadness though, much unlike Karin's. Sasuke sighed quietly. He felt deeply for Karin. Even as he questioned her integrity, he felt that stupid bond connecting her to him, the bond that made it awfully hard to be critical.

"In any case," Karin picked up, "that was when we got our vision. Kushina was right there in the room with me, so it should have been strong and vivid, but it was weak. Had I been paying more attention, maybe I could have alerted someone and maybe I could have..." Karin trailed off and swallowed thickly, deciding it best not to complete that thought. "Anyway," she went on, the sadness in her voice lifting a bit, "our vision was of our most precious people, our newborn children. You two were about five and you were just sitting in the yard, holding hands, and watching the trees. I know now that we were seeing you two share your very first vision, but I didn't know that back then. When the vision ended, I looked over to Kushina, and the look in her eyes was haunting. I'll never forget it. She already knew that we had just shared our very last vision."

Naruto stayed quiet for a few long moments, allowing both Karin and himself to collect their emotions. When he felt that he could speak without his voice breaking, he asked, "What's her name, your daughter?"

Karin lifted her eyes to Naruto's and smiled sadly. Sasuke could see that these memories were still painful, even if Karin was trying to pretend that they weren't. "Her name was Akemi," she said.

Naruto paused as the name struck a chord in him. He poked around his insides for some kind of indication of that bond that Karin had described. He found nothing though. If anything, he found just a surplus of Sasuke, not that Sasuke was a bad thing. The way that Karin spoke so passionately about his mother, though, made him crave his own connection, his own anchor. He wanted that bond, that comfort of having someone who could never leave you. Sure, Sasuke felt like that person already, but Akemi was on a whole different level. Naruto wanted to share visions, thoughts, and emotions. Come to think of it, why hadn't he? Where _was_ his bond with Akemi?

"Why can't I _feel_ her or something?" Naruto asked, his voice coming out a bit strained. "Don't we have a bond too? Have we shared nothing?"

Karin sighed. "All visions come to pass," she said softly, "and I remember being paralyzed with emotion the day my last vision with your mother came to pass. Yes, Naruto, you shared something. You and Akemi stopped laughing, so I looked out the window. I saw you two staring at the trees quietly, holding hands. I thought that I would die from the grief. It brought back the pain of losing Kushina. She should have been there to witness our most precious vision of our most precious people finally passing. Your first vision is always the most pivotal one too. It's a proud moment in every parent's life. She should have been there, both her _and_ Akihiko. Do…" Karin paused, feeling afraid to ask the question, or maybe just afraid to receive the answer. "Do you remember what that vision was?"

"No," Naruto whispered regretfully. He felt guilty for not remembering. How could such an important part of his childhood be so absent? How could he block such precious memories out? Just how? _Why_?

Deep inside, Naruto knew that it was all thanks to a certain bastard named Kazuhito. Even if he never dwelt on the subject, he knew that Kazuhito had traumatized him enough to make him simply block out the past. He was just a child then. He couldn't deal with those emotions. He could only react, and his reaction was to run away from it and simply forget. Unfortunately for Naruto, he forgot a lot more than a few sickening nights with Kazuhito. He had forgotten nearly the entire expanse of his first six or seven years of life. The only memories that Naruto retained from any of those years were memories of Sasuke and Sasuke alone. He was only five when they had met, but Sasuke was saving him, even way back then.

Karin smiled weakly, her disappointment poorly hidden. "It was a vision of a raven," she began to explain. "At least, that's what you told me. You said that your raven was held down by something heavy. I didn't understand what you meant, and you were just as confused as I was. I'll never forget what Akemi had said though." Karin paused before quoting her daughter. "You will touch the raven; you will free it; and it will carry you with all of its might. It will protect you with all of its love. It will guide you for the rest of its life. You need only touch it." Karin smiled, denoting the end of her daughter's words and the beginning of her own. "You, Naruto, saw a bird, but Akemi saw so much more. You, surely, were _meant_ to see it differently though. Fate has its ways. Nothing is by accident."

"Why would they have different visions?" Sasuke asked. "Doesn't that defeat the point of sharing them?"

"Visions are a delicate thing," Karin began to explain. "Sharing a vision doesn't necessarily mean seeing or interpreting it in exactly the same way. It simply means being subjected to the same strain of fate at the same time." Karin paused, looking to nothing and no one in particular. "For whatever reason, karma or god or whatever you believe is out there shows that fate to partners at once. Those shared visions typically turn out to be pretty important in our lives. As close as two people may be, though, the way that they interpret things will, inevitably, be different."

"Is everything always so cryptic?" Sasuke asked, wanting to know what the hell Naruto's first vision had even meant.

Karin snorted with laughter. "Visions don't always come to us blunt and blatant, Sasuke. Sometimes, they have to be unraveled," Karin began, glancing at Naruto, "just like your first one has to be." Karin looked back into empty space. "Only the seer can really determine what it means. Sometimes, it's very blunt. Sometimes, it's not. Sometimes, you see a black bird and your anchor supplies you with a prophecy that you yourself didn't even hear. All you can do is wait for the moment to pass. Fate will show itself eventually. It will always make sense in time."

"Why do you even have visions if you don't know what they mean until they pass?" Sasuke asked, seriously questioning fate's logic.

Karin shrugged. "I have never questioned fate. What we see, we are meant to see. It's simple, Sasuke. If one is meant to decode their visions, one will decode them. If one is meant to change them, one will change them. If one is meant to be clueless, one will be clueless. Whatever is meant to be, will inevitably be. How one reacts to their visions is whatever fate decides it to be. It just happens as you go. The gift of sight does not come with the gift of understanding. There isn't an explanation for everything, but there _will_ be," Karin replied, "in time."

For the first time, Sasuke didn't have an answer ready. He was thinking over her words. They were wise. They were thoughtful. They were knowing. Had Sasuke not felt so wary of her, he was sure that he would have really liked her. Naruto seemed lost in his own train of thought, so Sasuke spoke again after a minute. "Do you think that Akemi really understood the vision?" Sasuke asked.

Karin smiled. "Akemi was only repeating exactly what she took from it. She made sure to tell me that it was _your_ vision though," Karin said, glancing at Naruto again, "not hers. Like I said before, the first vision is always the most vital one, the most pivotal point in our lives." Karin looked to Sasuke, though she clearly spoke the next words to Naruto. "I think that, perhaps, your vision is coming to pass." Naruto glanced at Sasuke, who returned his uncertain look. Karin looked back into empty space again. "You'll have to figure it all out for yourself, but you may already be in the thick of decoding that vision. Sometimes, they're lifelong things. Sometimes, our visions aren't even for _us_ to decode. Remember Akemi's words though. Once freed, the raven is yours. You need only touch it."

"Do you mean me?" Sasuke asked warily. Karin shrugged. To be honest, she didn't _know_ if it was Sasuke, but it certainly looked like it was. "I don't understand," Sasuke said flatly.

"Of course you don't," Karin answered just as flatly. "It's not your vision."

"I don't understand either," Naruto added.

"Not _yet,_ you don't," Karin corrected, "but you will."

"And you think it has to do with Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

Karin shrugged again. Thoughts of uncertainty flitted through Karin's mind. Would she be okay with her nephew's destiny being so closely intertwined to Sasuke Uchiha? Would she be able to accept that they were bound to one another in the hands of fate, which one simply does not or, rather, cannot defy? She questioned many things very quickly in her head, but went with, "It's not _my_ vision. I don't know who or what it has to do with. What will be, will be," she added, "so just let it be."

That last bit was pretty sound advice, Sasuke thought. Well, the whole bit seemed pretty sound actually. Sasuke found himself questioning Karin's words carefully. She was definitely implying that she had thought the vision was about Sasuke or, at least, that it was a very plausible option. She also kind of implied that _Sasuke_ would be the one to figure it all out. Why else would she have said that part about visions not always being for the person seeing them to decode? That was curious. Sasuke had to admit it, Karin was stimulating. He actually enjoyed conversations with her. He found himself maybe, kind of, possibly, slightly hoping for a reason to abandon his whole argument against her.

Meanwhile, Naruto was thinking on Akemi's name again. Of course, he found a whole lot of Sasuke still occupying his mind. He didn't find some invisible string connecting him to his anchor. He didn't find any semblance of the bond that he was desperate to reveal. He found nothing but the flickering image of a mistreated blond girl, an image that he wanted to forget. Yes, he had seen Akemi. Yes, her name had brought that vision of her back to the front of his mind. He didn't comment on that though. He wasn't sure that it was the time to open that can of worms. Actually, he just wasn't sure that he could handle it yet. That blond girl had evolved from some unfortunate child to Naruto's cousin, his anchor, Karin's _daughter_. She had become someone so much more precious to him. Now it was even harder to face that image, so he buried it back in the box that it had sprung from instead. It just wasn't the time.

"Is," Naruto corrected softly, trying to regain some resemblance of composure. Both Karin and Sasuke cocked their heads curiously at him in time.

"Is what?" Karin asked.

"You said that her name _was_ Akemi. If I'm having visions though, she must be alive," Naruto explained, drawing from an earlier statement of Karin's.

"Unless you're just reacting to your clan's energy like Karin was talking about," Sasuke mused quietly, not wanting to imply that Akemi was dead, but not wanting to rule out all possibilities either. Sasuke had always been the logical type. He examined every option, not just the ones he wanted to believe. He wasn't exactly waging a war of wits with Naruto. He was just keeping the options open.

"Not possible," Naruto said confidently, feeling excited that he could argue with Sasuke for once and not sound like an idiot.

Sasuke quirked a brow. "Explain," he said simply, distinctly feeling like it would turn into a war of wits anyway.

"That would be a good theory if the clan was still alive," Naruto pointed out. "Karin said that she hasn't had visions in a long time though, so that means the clan has been gone for a while, unless you think the entire clan just happens to live in our city and our city alone." Naruto paused with a smug smile.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I'm sure that's not the case, but you only need five active members for your visions to start up," Sasuke pointed out. "It's plausible to think that at least five of them happened to live near us and none of them happen to live near here."

"And that at least five of them happened to be in every town we stopped in too?" Naruto added. "Also, Karin said that the reservation was just off into the wilderness," Naruto argued. "It doesn't seem very reasonable that _none_ of them would stick near it for just no reason at all."

"I didn't say that there wasn't a reason, but would it be so crazy to assume that they've simply melded into modern society? She did _also_ say that modern technology was the better choice," Sasuke replied.

"For having babies," Naruto said.

"Among many other things," Sasuke retorted.

"Yeah but would the whole clan really run to all corners of the earth instead of just the closest town," Naruto questioned, "_if_ they even _wanted_ to get away?"

"Probably not to all corners of the earth, but one doesn't need to go far to be gone," Sasuke pointed out. "There are many towns, Naruto. Who's to say that they didn't simply choose different ones?"

Naruto nodded and paused to think for a moment. "Yes," he began again, "that's true, but something else kind of destroys that idea completely."

Sasuke raised a very curious brow. "Also," Sasuke carried on, wanting to give Naruto a full piece of his mind before he could argue back with some ludicrous idea, "Karin said that her inner eye closing was no problem for her because, _at the time_, they _still_ held consultations on the reservation. That means that there has to be a reason for why they stopped having them on the reservation. Why would they stop? Perhaps, because you create enemies when consulting in wars and bringing people into their home got too dangerous. That would, certainly, be a good enough reason to wanna skip town, I think. If you have a threat big enough, you probably wouldn't just choose the next town over either."

"What do you suggest would be a threat big enough to scatter an entire clan?" Naruto asked.

"Death," Sasuke said simply. "Kill enough of someone's family and they'll want to get away from you. I don't suspect that it would be hard for an enemy that specializes in war to do just that."

"Wait, so your theory is that someone attacked the clan and everyone scattered as a result?" Naruto asked. He was feeling a bit annoyed that Sasuke had come to such a conclusion, only because it was too closely related to his own. He _liked_ that he was outsmarting the Uchiha for once, but Sasuke seemed to be pretty close to the right track anyway. That was annoying. Sasuke was still off though, and that was enough to overshadow the annoyance. Naruto was still winning. When it became a matter of winning and losing, he wasn't entirely sure… but he was still winning.

Sasuke shrugged again. "I don't formulate theory. I speculate fact. It just seems awfully plausible to me."

"Well, that's not far off from what I was suggesting to begin with," Naruto said.

"No, it's not. The only difference is that my suggestion is _plausible_ and backed up with good reasoning. You haven't exactly argued your point well," Sasuke pointed out.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I was going to, until you interrupted me with your preaching," he retorted.

Sasuke smirked. He was actually eager to hear Naruto's argument. He raised an interested brow. "Then, by all means, enlighten me."

"First of all," Naruto went on, ignoring his boyfriend's smug attitude, "I want to point out that if a position as a clan elder is as prestigious as it sounds and if Karin loved it as much as she so obviously did, then she probably wouldn't be sitting around if she knew that her clansmen were out there somewhere. She did say that she was never away from the clan. Why would she suddenly decide to break off from them? Why would she choose to be alone when she could have moved closer to other members?" Naruto paused, allowing Sasuke a moment to argue, if he even could. Naruto understood his boyfriend well, and Sasuke always needed the chance to prove his superiority. He didn't take well to losing, especially in a battle of wits.

Sasuke wanted to point out the obvious red flags that Naruto was bringing up all by himself. Karin was separated from her clan. Karin spoke so highly of them and, yet, she lived isolated, like she wanted nothing to do with them or maybe like they wanted nothing to do with her. Naruto had just said it himself; why _would_ she suddenly decide to break off from them? Why _would_ she choose to live alone? It was pretty damn suspicious to Sasuke, and it was definitely going on his platform against her.

Sasuke didn't want to bombard Naruto with his suspicions though. Naruto was eager to have a family member, and Sasuke trying to discredit her would not go over well. He didn't want to drive that wedge between them. If Karin was untrustworthy, then she'd eventually prove it herself without Sasuke's help. Sasuke would be there to protect his blond when she did too, whether he had the "inner eye" to "see" or not. Sasuke was also pretty eager to see where this argument was going, so that was more incentive to keep his trap shut. It wasn't often that Naruto put up a decent argument. He nodded once, prompting Naruto to stop awaiting an answer and to just go on.

"Also," Naruto began again, feeling a bit arrogant that Sasuke hadn't argued, "don't you remember how many Uzumaki nameplates we saw at the cemetery?" Naruto asked.

"Thirteen," Sasuke said matter-of-factly. "That's not exactly a ground breaking number." Sasuke wanted to point out that Naruto's clan could have been, and most likely was, _much_ larger than thirteen strong. There was just no logical way of deducing that they were _all_ dead just because of those thirteen nameplates. However, Sasuke simply nodded and waved his hand for Naruto to continue with his theory.

Naruto rolled his eyes again. "The number really isn't the point anyway," he said. "The biggest issue is…"—Naruto paused and grimaced at the thought—"the blood."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"You know. All the blood I saw last night," Naruto answered.

Sasuke nodded. "Yeah, genius, except that still supports _both_ of our suggestions."

"I _did_ say that my theory was a lot like yours," Naruto argued.

"Karin's isolation, thirteen nameplates, and some blood don't mean that they're _all_ dead, as opposed to just some of them," Sasuke argued back. "If anything, you're proving my point, dobe. Thirteen of them died and the rest skipped town, leaving Karin lonely."

"Well, I don't think my clan was scattered, teme," Naruto disagreed. "I hate to have to guess this, but…" Naruto paused and looked to Karin, "it seems an awful lot like our clan was _slaughtered_." Sasuke looked expectantly to Karin to settle the qualm. After all, she had all the knowledge. She looked down at her knees and nodded sadly.

Naruto sighed. "I was really hoping otherwise," he said quietly, "but that explains why Karin still has no visions. Akemi being alive explains why I do. I'll bet that whoever isn't here in Whistler is buried out on the reservation." Again, Sasuke looked to Karin for confirmation, who, again, nodded sadly.

So Sasuke hadn't been far off with his speculation, but he hadn't been spot on either. He cursed inwardly. He wasn't all that stung by the fact that Naruto had just proven him wrong, even though he _really_ didn't like losing. He was actually glad that Naruto proved that Akemi was still alive, even if meant that the rest of the clan had to be dead. What bothered Sasuke was that Naruto had just _slaughtered_ his entire platform against Karin along the way, not that it was a very big platform to begin with. All that Sasuke had left now was an inkling that Karin was suspicious. He couldn't prove that she was untrustworthy on just a hunchthough.

He mused that, perhaps, she _wasn't_ untrustworthy. To be fair, she hadn't really done anything to suggest that she was. All she had done was question Sasuke's loyalty and freak him out. Was he really going to condemn her just because she shared something with Naruto that Sasuke couldn't understand? Was it really coming to that? If Sasuke thought about it from an objective point of view, it seemed an awful lot like he was just looking for any excuse to be rid of her. Was he that jealous? No, he had to be fair. Karin deserved a chance, and Sasuke had to offer it to her.

Even if it inevitably brought Naruto closer to Karin and farther from Sasuke himself, Sasuke had to admit that he was impressed with Naruto's deduction. Apparently, Naruto didn't need as much guidance as Sasuke had thought. It looked like he could hold his own just fine. In fact, he had nailed the deduction from the very beginning. That fact only made Sasuke feel worse though. He couldn't be proud of his dobe. Now it wasn't just a matter of Sasuke being _unable_ to participate. It was matter of Naruto simply not _needing_ Sasuke to participate. Sasuke wasn't sure that he could accept the space growing between them.

Sure, they'd had that petty squall about Naruto's dreams and whatnot, but that was really just bullshit. This was serious. Naruto was growing more independent, and Sasuke wasn't prepared for that. He was too used to their routine of _fifteen years_ now. What would he do when Naruto casted him aside? How could he compete with Naruto's long-lost family? On top of it all, now that Sasuke wasn't looking at her like a villain, Karin really did seem genuine. She wasn't secretly scheming against them. She wasn't using Naruto maliciously. She truly loved Naruto, and she was glad to have him back. Sasuke could see that she had ties to his blond that Naruto just wasn't aware of yet. She had ties that would, without a doubt, eclipse Sasuke. It was just a matter of time now.

Karin, apparently, was a bit of a reader herself, for she caught Sasuke's uneasy gaze on Naruto and swooped in. "Sasuke? Are you alright?" she asked gently. Even if she was wary of the boy, she didn't want to patronize him; and she definitely didn't like the sadness clouding his eyes. She could see that this boy had known true pain. He was young and, yet, those eyes spoke of such torture. They clung to Naruto's features, as if he was Sasuke's sole saving grace.

Sasuke snapped to his senses. "Fine," he said quickly.

Karin sighed, and her eyes softened. "Sasuke, I really don't like the way that you've been judging me," she said bluntly. She was unable to provide an edge to her voice though. Uchiha or not, that motherly instinct had switched on. He was still just a boy.

"What?!" Sasuke snapped, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Naruto began to worry that he would be caught in another argument between the two.

"I can see it all over your face. You don't trust me," Karin said. Her voice was still soft. She tried to keep Sasuke from feeling attacked, even if she had done nothing but emanate an attacking aura since the moment she had met him.

"Well, I don't _know_ you, Karin," Sasuke said curtly, "and, if I remember correctly, _you_ didn't trust _me_ just because you didn't _know_ me yesterday."

That hit Karin in the chest like a wrecking ball. God, he was so right. Even if both boys were oblivious to it, Karin had still continued to doubt Sasuke—and, yes, it did seem that even Sasuke was oblivious, for he'd just used the past tense and implied that Karin deceived even him into believing she'd abandoned her mistrust of him. She hadn't abandoned it though, and she couldn't feel proud that her act had worked so well. She felt guilty. She tried to remind herself of who he was. Uchiha. Sasuke _Uchiha_. That did nothing though. All she could see was a child, a lost little boy. She kept picturing the expression that Sasuke hadn't been aware he was even wearing just a minute ago as he gazed at Naruto.

She could not see an Uchiha. She could only see suffering, and that made it very hard to scrutinize him. Perhaps she could stand to turn the scrutiny down a notch, and maybe her argument of his last name being so incriminating was a weak one. She didn't want to admit stupidity, but she kind of felt stupid. She wouldn't completely throw caution to the wind, but she could feel it dialing down significantly. Even if just for the moment, she was eager to comfort. She was eager to earn Sasuke's trust, even if she hadn't given him hers and, yet, still deceived him into believing that she had.

"I'm his _aunt_," Karin said softly, not trying to argue as much as simply reassure. "Isn't that enough?"

Sasuke did not take her words or her tone as softly as they were offered though. "No!" he snapped. "How do I know that you're not just using him for some personal gain?" Even if he had decided the exact opposite of that statement, Sasuke was mad; and so it seemed appropriate to make such an accusation anyway. She was stealing the only thing that Sasuke had ever had though. How could he _not_ be angry?

Karin didn't exactly abandon her new-found desire to meet Sasuke on common ground, but it did disappear for a few blinding minutes. Was he really going to accuse her of something so ludicrous? It was practically her son they were talking about. She vaguely wondered if this had been what it felt like to Sasuke when she was judging him on what, surely, he felt to be no grounds at all. She would even admit that, perhaps, she actually _had_ judged him on no grounds at all. That thought slipped away quickly though. Any sympathy for the boy died out when her eyes met dark, angry, daring ones. Sasuke's face morphed into a similar one that had stolen her entire life away so many years ago when it had stolen her children. What she saw was no longer Sasuke. It was the sins of his clan. They twisted his features into something too painful for Karin to swallow, too painful for her to forget.

"Me?!" Karin snarled. "Have you forgotten who _you_ are? If anyone is betraying him, it's _you_!" Now, really, how could Sasuke be anything but enraged?

"I'm his boyfriend and I've been his best friend for nearly our entire lives!" Sasuke retorted. "Isn't _that_ enough?!"

"Stop!" Naruto shouted. "Holy shit! Will you both just calm down?" When Sasuke looked about to yell again, despite Naruto's plea, Naruto added a desperate, "Please!" That glued Sasuke's mouth shut.

It was really amazing just how oblivious both Karin and Sasuke were. Karin was just on the edge of accepting Sasuke after having been subjected to the honesty of his heart—even if for just a fleeting moment before she had unintentionally chased it away. Sasuke, on the other hand, was just on the edge of accepting Karin after having looked inward to see that, perhaps, he was really just battling his own insecurities—even if for just a fleeting moment before he had thrown that new, scary discovery to the wind and gone back to questioning her for no good reason at all. They were doing a very delicate dance. Neither was aware of just how close to their breaking point that the other was. It was truly sad, because they both shared a certain blond who wished for nothing more than for the two to just get along.

Sasuke couldn't help the anger that was boiling in his chest though. Karin was accusing him of betraying Naruto _again_. She was questioning his integrity _again_, like Sasuke would ever do anything to hurt Naruto. She had no grounds to accuse him of something so absurd! There was no other person on the entire planet who could be more devoted to Naruto than Sasuke. He was the only one that Naruto could truly trust, but here this bitch was, insisting otherwise, like she had any fucking clue.

Sasuke wanted to punch her, to be honest. The only thing that stopped him was one stupid thought niggling at the back of his mind. He had just done this very same thing to her, hadn't he? He had been accusing her of something absurd, just because he felt threatened by her. Even if he hadn't _voiced_ that accusation (not counting that _one_ comment that he _did_ just make out of anger), he had still thought it. He had still schemed against her. That was enough to make him guilty.

He honestly had no right to be angry at her for simply being concerned. She just wanted to protect Naruto in the same way that Sasuke did. That alone should have been enough for Sasuke to cast his pride aside and play nice with her. Not to mention, though unknown to him, that alone may also have been enough to prompt Karin to see reason and do exactly the same. That threatening glare that she was giving him though, that look that suggested Naruto was _hers_ to protect was what kept Sasuke from conceding. Hell fucking no, he absolutely could not calm down. Naruto was his! Wasn't that obvious? And so the very delicate, very useless dance went on.

Sasuke turned to voice his angry opinion, but Naruto's eyes were pleading pools of desperation. They melted Sasuke's heart, and that only made him angrier. Why couldn't Naruto see what was happening? Why was he so oblivious to what she was implying? Or else, why didn't it bother him? Didn't he _care_ that she was splitting them apart? Or were his own selfish objectives more important than Sasuke?

Sasuke huffed, trying to reign in his rage. "Just call me when you're done!" he bit out as he popped up from the couch. He landed one last deadly glare on Karin before storming away.

"Sasuke!?" Naruto shouted, reaching and catching him by the wrist.

Sasuke snatched his arm away without even so much as a glance back and zoomed out of the house. Naruto sat at the edge of his seat, debating whether or not he should follow Sasuke. He had just jumped up and decided to follow when he heard the car tires screeching outside. He lowered his eyes and sighed as he plopped back down on the couch. That was that. Sasuke was gone.

"Don't fret over him," Karin said in an attempt at comfort, but Naruto snorted derisively at her.

"Don't fret over my boyfriend? Does that make _any_ sense to you, Karin?!" Naruto snapped.

"Naruto, you don't even know Sasuke," Karin began to argue.

"No!" Naruto barked. "I don't even know you! I know Sasuke!"

"Then I guess you know exactly what it is that his family has done?" Karin asked sharply. "You know exactly who his father is and exactly who _he_ is?" She raised a daring brow, but Naruto simply glared. He felt that the answer was an obvious yes but was unsure of where she was going with that. "No? Wow, I'm shocked, but why _would_ he tell you that _his_ clan is the clan that _murdered_ our people?" Karin went on.

"Whatever!" Naruto exclaimed disbelievingly, a look of disgust engulfing his features.

"You think I'm lying?" Karin asked. "Honestly, Naruto?" Naruto looked less confident but still offered no response, not wanting to egg her on. "When your mother died, it took your father and me less than a second to decide to raise you and Akemi together. You are as good as my own son. I would not lie to you. This is our clan we're talking about, Naruto. These are the people that I grew up with, the people that you grew up with too at one point. We're talking about _our_ family and, yes, your boyfriend's family killed them. For years I thought that they killed you and Akemi too."

Naruto slowly looked up at his aunt. "Are you… sure?" he asked uncertainly.

"Am I sure?" Karin snorted lightly. "I saw them do it, Naruto. I watched them murder my clansmen, and then I watched them drag my children, my _daughter_ and my _son_, away from me. Yes, I'm sure. I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but there's nothing that I can do about the past. Sasuke is an Uchiha, and the Uchiha are your enemy."

"But… But not _Sasuke_!" Naruto argued. "Sasuke is… Sasuke loves me!"

"Maybe," Karin mused, "and maybe not. I want to believe that he is who he appears to be, but I can't. I want to believe that the way he looks at you with such love is honest, but I can't. I just can't, Naruto, because I've seen too many faces like his covered in the blood of our people. I know what you think you know, but there is _no_ guarantee that he's as innocent as he seems to be."

Naruto's eyes clouded with tears as Karin's words slowly chipped away at his confidence. "I don't wanna believe it," he said quietly, staring down at his knees.

"I know you don't and neither do I, but history is against us," Karin replied. "The Uchiha are a clan of ninja assassins. Back in my time, we were paid to predict for our clients what their enemies would do in war. Being a clan of assassins, the Uchiha were often the enemies' weapon of choice, so it was _their_ movements that we predicted. Inevitably, we became enemies. It was only a matter of time before it came to a war between us. Then, they got hold of a weapon that brought down our entire clan."

"And what was that?" Naruto asked quietly, not really feeling all that interested in a family history lesson.

"Our own flesh and blood, a man named Kazuhito," Karin said.

Naruto snapped to attention. "What?!" he asked loudly, completely floored. "You mean my _godfather_?!"

"He is _not_ your godfather!" Karin snapped. "He _is_ an Uzumaki, but a traitorous one indeed. It would be easier, Naruto, if you just let me show you."

Naruto stared at her offered hand in silence for a few short moments. "I… I don't know," he said eventually.

"It's okay," Karin assured. "It's just like having a dream. Like I said earlier, just let it be and your instincts will take over. Relax. It'll feel natural. I promise."

Naruto thought about how much easier that would be with Sasuke at his side. Sasuke was what Naruto needed. He was _all_ Naruto _ever_ needed, but Sasuke was gone. That thought made Naruto feel miserable, guilty, and panicked all at once. He had really never realized how much he relied on Sasuke. Shit, he couldn't even have one conversation with his own aunt without Sasuke around. He felt pathetic and spineless. No! He could do this. He could do this _alone_. Then, when all was said and done, when Naruto had all the facts, he could form his own opinion. There was nothing to fear. It wasn't as if Karin's memories were going to show _Sasuke_ killing anyone. It would be fine. Naruto could do this. He could… and so he did.


	12. Chapter 12: Things Visited

**A/N:** This chapter went unbeta'd.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Things Visited**

Naruto woke from his sleep and immediately checked his phone. Of course, there was nothing from Sasuke. After leaving Karin's house in his huffiest puffiest manner, Sasuke ignored every one of Naruto's million phone calls for a ride back to the motel. Luckily, Karin offered for Naruto to stay the night, not that he really had any other choice at that point. He used the excuse of being tired to retire to the guest bedroom early. What he really did was stare at his phone for a good hour or two, and then he cried. He didn't want to feel so dependent on Sasuke. At the same time, though, he really fucking missed Sasuke. So maybe becoming independent was going to be a gradual process. That was okay too. He just wanted Sasuke to call him or _something_. He was literally dying like this.

Sasuke did not call though, nor did he text. He didn't do anything but seemingly fall off the face of the planet. Naruto didn't even have it in him to be worried because he was too busy being miserable. However, he would have to face this day alone with Karin. What he needed to do was focus on her. He still had questions left unanswered. The least that he could do was have useful information about Sasuke's family when they finally reunited. Sasuke's family. That was the golden subject.

Karin had shown Naruto a lot of awful things. After understanding the process of imprinting better, the images all came to Naruto smoothly, like a movie playing inside his head. That was, at least, until Karin got to the whole clan being slaughtered part. Naruto was able to keep calm so that the connection could stay pretty smooth though, even when he actually felt Karin's sickness and panic as she ran, even when he saw the bloody bodies that kept falling in her path, even when she only just barely escaped a few deadly blows herself, and even when he felt every painstaking second of her fear as her memories flooded into him. When he and Akemi were actually kidnapped though, that became a whole other thing.

Seeing their innocent, childish faces just moments before their entire lives changed was strange. They were so unassuming. They looked like happy children with not a care in the world. He couldn't imagine every having felt that way. One moment, they were holding each of Karin's hands and walking along a silent forest path after she had picked them up from an isolated cabin, which he guessed to be their home. There was no sight or sound of a slaughter being waged on the rest of their clan. There was just the sounds of their giggles as they bounded along. Karin was calm and collected too. Even after everything that Naruto knew she had just seen, she stayed composed for the sake of her children. He and Akemi, they were so goddamn clueless. Then, just like flipping a switch, men appeared out of nowhere and Naruto and Akemi were ripped away from Karin. As if Karin's own panic surging into him wasn't enough, Naruto began to remember his own terror too. A feeling that had long been buried away surfaced. That was enough to break up the connection quite substantially, so Naruto opted to stop after that. He was afraid that anything else Karin had to offer would be too raw or emotional for him to bear.

He had received Karin's point loud and clear anyway. Sasuke's family did brutally murder his, but that was, by no means at all, Sasuke's fault. Naruto knew Sasuke. He had known Sasuke since he was five. They had always done practically everything together, even in those first, rocky years when Sasuke refused to speak or show any signs of emotion. He had allowed Naruto to stay at his side though, and that was all the recognition that Naruto had needed. They had been inseparable ever since that very first day. Naruto just knew. He had always been able to feel Sasuke in his heart. There was just no way on earth that Sasuke was as traitorous as Karin thought that he was. Sasuke truly was a good man at the core, probably the best of the best. It was hidden deep down beneath his many layers, but he was a child dropped in darkness. How could Karin expect him to be so open after everything that he had been through? Wasn't it enough that Naruto could see Sasuke's heart? Wasn't it enough that he understood, that he could help Sasuke be the man that he knew Sasuke was?

Naruto could better understand Karin's disposition now though. It _would _be hard to accept an Uchiha after the things that she had seen. Naruto even had to admit that it'd be hard for him now too, not that he was ever accepting of Sasuke's family to begin with. Sasuke simply wasn't an Uchiha though. It was as plain and simple as that. Hell, if even Sasuke had seen any of those memories, it would be just as hard for him to accept another Uchiha too! It was _already_ hard for him to accept the Uchiha because of everything that his father had put him through. The kind of knowledge that Karin held in her head would tear Sasuke up though. Naruto didn't even want to imagine the amount of guilt that Sasuke would feel.

As much of a bastard as Sasuke could be, he was still a human being and Naruto knew for a fact that Sasuke had an awful lot of those human emotions too. He just chose to hide them. Had he ever had any knowledge of his clan literally slaughtering Naruto's, he would have been a total drama queen about it and run off. All the while, he would have insisted that he was a danger to Naruto's safety. Karin just didn't know Sasuke. That was her issue. All she saw was Uchiha, but that wasn't Sasuke. Sasuke was Sasuke, and that was all. Sasuke was, without a doubt, the most loyal person Naruto had ever met. If anything, he was Naruto's only _true_ ally. He was the only person Naruto had ever fully trusted. Sasuke was Naruto's everything, and it had been that way for fifteen years strong.

There was a whole other issue at hand though. Had Sasuke known of his clan's doing, been his drama queen self, and run off, then he may have actually been right to do so. Sasuke's family was dangerous… _really_ dangerous. Now that they were after Sasuke, they were after Naruto too. It was a shitty idea to entertain, but maybe Naruto _was_ safer in Sasuke's absence. That was the logical way to approach this situation, but this is Naruto we're talking about. Naruto disregarded what made sense to everyone else and went with what made sense to him. He had to protect Sasuke, even if it killed him. That was an even more pressing reason to get back to Sasuke, but what Naruto needed to do to get back to Sasuke was to actually stick with Karin for now. He had to ask as many questions as she could answer because he needed answers. He needed to understand. He couldn't protect Sasuke unless he was armed with knowledge.

With a sudden burst of determined energy, Naruto shot out from under the covers and dressed himself hurriedly. He was eager to talk to Karin. He quickly but quietly exited the guest room and looked down the hall to his right, only to see that Karin's door was still closed. He just assumed that she was still sleeping. He still felt out of place in her home, but he figured that it would be okay to help himself to something to drink if she was sleeping. So that's what he did. He stopped walking down toward the kitchen when he saw Karin sitting contentedly in her favorite chair, just staring down at the coffee table.

"Good morning!" he said brightly, ready to get some answers. As he moved closer to her though, he realized that she wasn't really responding... or moving... like... at all. He cleared his throat loudly, only to receive no response.

"Karin?" he said tentatively, moving around the coffee table to take a seat on the couch cushion closest to her. She stayed still and silent. He leaned in closely and peered into her eyes, hoping to dear god that they would show some sign that she wasn't dead. They didn't seem vacant or anything. They, actually, seemed exceptionally alive, just like she was looking at something very distant. So she wasn't dead. Thank god. He supposed that she could have just been sleeping with her eyes open, so he cleared his throat again to wake her or whatever. Nothing happened though, so he leaned back on the couch and watched her quietly.

She definitely wasn't passed out because her eyes were open and moving, even if she was looking at something nonexistent. He really didn't know her that well, so maybe it was just some kind of condition that she had. Best to just wait it out and see, he decided. His eyes roved over the tall bookshelves in the room, taking in the multitudes of random objects that they housed. It took about three whole seconds for him to get bored though, so he decided to try waking her again… or whatever.

Cautiously, he reached over and lightly tapped her knee. She didn't stir. "Karin?" he said quietly, shaking her knee a bit more roughly. No response. He cleared his throat again. "Karin?" he said a bit louder, boldly shaking her knee more vigorously. Still, no response. He paused to huff out an impatient breath. "Karin!" he said sharply, really jostling her knee well.

She jolted out of thought abruptly, causing Naruto to jump up and a whole couch cushion away from her. Immediately, he busted into laughter, finding his reaction to be just hilarious. Karin did not join in as he had expected her to do though. Instead, she seemed sort of frightened. She had her hand clapped over her heart and she was breathing heavily.

Naruto sobered up really fast. "Uh… Sorry?" he offered uncertainly, moving to sit closer to her again.

Karin shook her head no. "Oh, no. It's fine," she insisted, smiling, "really. I just wasn't expecting that."

"What were you… uh… doing?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, nothing," Karin said lightly, waving a dismissive hand.

"That was pretty intense for nothing," Naruto pointed out.

"Well, I am an Uzumaki. Everything I do seems intense," Karin replied lightly. Naruto stared at her awkwardly. He couldn't tell if that was meant to be a joke or not. Was he supposed to laugh or... what? "I was just combing through my thoughts," Karin went on, relieving Naruto. "I was just, you know, thinking over old visions and whatnot. I wanted to make sure that I was in order for when you bombarded me with questions." Naruto blushed lightly in a guilty manner, but Karin continued to smile sweetly. "Our thoughts can take us pretty deep into our minds," she added. Naruto nodded slowly, not sure exactly how he felt about going into full-blown trances every time that he wanted to think about his visions. "Well, how was your night?" Karin asked spiritedly, interrupting Naruto's musings.

Naruto shrugged. "It was nice," he lied smoothly.

Karin gave him a knowing gaze. "Does nice mean full of tears?" she asked.

Naruto flushed but shrugged again. "So what? Sometimes I cry. Who cares?" he said defensively, feeling a lot more vulnerable without Sasuke around.

Sasuke was like his firewall. He could be as open and careless as he wanted because Sasuke was always there to protect him and his heart. Naruto was safe with Sasuke. Had Sasuke been there right then, he would have glared Karin into submission and insisted that she stop patronizing Naruto. Then, he would have finished up with a threat to her livelihood. Naruto missed that.

"I'm not attacking you," Karin said softly, her voice never abandoning its lightness. "I'm simply pointing out the facts. You cried. I heard," she said with a shrug of her own.

Naruto snorted. "You know, if you gave him a chance, you'd like Sasuke. You sound just like him sometimes," he said with a grin. Karin's grin, however, faltered. She didn't need to speak to convey her thoughts on that matter. Naruto rolled his eyes, feeling very defensive of his boyfriend. "You're judging him based on a prejudice. He was five back then," Naruto pointed out, "just like I was. He didn't kidnap or kill anyone."

"It's not his character that I question. It's his name," Karin said simply.

"I wasn't aware that names did any wrong. I thought it was a person's character that decided that. But what do I know? Certainly not the intentions of my best friend of fifteen years," Naruto retorted snappishly.

"Naruto, you don't know—"

"No," Naruto interrupted, "_you_ don't know. What you know is a memory, Karin, a memory that you're pinning on an innocent person. What _I_ know is that I love Sasuke as much as Sasuke loves me, but you ran him off with your stupid prejudice and now I fucking miss him," he said hotly. "So if I want to cry a little in my room, then I'll cry. And there's nothing wrong with it!"

Karin averted her guilty eyes and sighed. Perhaps Naruto was right. Well, there was no "perhaps" about it. Naruto _was_ right. She had been too quick to punish Sasuke for his father's sins. She had known all along that Sasuke would have been far too young to remember such an incident. It didn't really _seem_ like he had been shunned from his family though because he had all the trademarks of an Uchiha lined within his attitude and just simply in the way that he carried himself. There was one thing Sasuke did have that Karin had never seen any other Uchiha ever have though, and that was Naruto. It was an unquestionable devotion to someone other than himself. It was very unlike an Uchiha to love someone the way that Sasuke so clearly loved Naruto, not even their own kind.

Uchiha were made to be emotionless machines. That was all. They married who they were told to marry, not who they loved—_if_ they even loved. They raised heirs, assassins, and warriors, not children. Truthfully, Sasuke didn't seem to be that far off from becoming the perfect Uchiha specimen. Naruto kept him just out of reach though. Naruto must have rescued Sasuke as a child from such a sad fate. Even if Sasuke's family did indeed shun him, he could still have turned out so wrong. He could have been much more jaded. He could have been just as bad as any Uchiha out there, even if he wasn't a part of their society. Sasuke's path in life must have deviated the moment that he met Naruto. Honestly, though, how _could_ he ever fall into darkness with such a light so close to his side?

Of course. It seemed so plain and obvious now. Karin had definitely let her memories affect the present. Sure, she still had a right to be a bit wary of Sasuke. Could she really think that she knew Sasuke better than Naruto simply because she knew the name Uchiha better though? The answer was a resounding hell no. Naruto was right. He had fifteen years of Sasuke under his belt, and he wasn't an idiot. Karin just had to face the fact that Sasuke was innocent. She felt infinitely bad for having pushed Sasuke so roughly now. Had she stooped so low as to criminalize an innocent boy? She wanted to trust in Sasuke now more than ever.

"Show me something I can believe in," Karin suggested. "If I am to forget Uchiha, then show me Sasuke."

Naruto scanned her words for sarcasm but found none. In the end, he nodded agreeably. "Well, how should I do that?" he asked.

"I suppose you could start with just talking about your lives," Karin suggested. "I'd like to hear about him as a child and about how you two came together."

"Alright," Naruto agreed. "Uh… Well, when I first met him, I wasn't even sure if Sasuke had emotions," Naruto began awkwardly. It was weird talking like this to Karin. "At first, he was just really quiet and he never wanted to play with me. He sort of just liked to sit there, but he would let me stick around," he went on, falling into a comfortable rhythm. It was actually really easy to talk about Sasuke. "He would keep me company because I was such an outsider and so was he. Well, I guess it was really more like he let _me_ keep _him_ company. A while after moving there, though, things got… bad… with Kazuhito. Sasuke was still as quiet as ever, but he would at least let me complain about how much I hated my life. He looked like he was listening too. I guess that was enough for me.

"At some point, it became mutual. When I started going to school with really bad bruises, Sasuke started to tell me stories about his dad. I guess he did it to make me feel less lonely. Even though he wouldn't admit it before, I knew that his dad was just as bad too. I knew that he always understood me. I just had all these weird feelings around him all the time, like I could feel everything that he wasn't saying. It was nice to finally hear it from his mouth though, to know that we really were the same and that I wasn't just imagining it. So we started trading stories about our miserable lives. It wasn't like we were suddenly best friends or anything, but he trusted me to some degree, enough to talk to me. That alone made me happy because Sasuke had been _my_ best friend since the first day I met him, just because he tolerated me.

"Fugaku was the worst though. The stories that Sasuke would tell did not do him justice. I never went around often because Fugaku made it clear just how much he hated me and that Sasuke was less of a man himself for not feeling the same way. When I did go around though, only because Sasuke insisted and we really couldn't get around it, Fugaku would treat Sasuke horribly, maybe even worse than normal. He would even hit Sasuke while I was there. Sometimes, I thought that he even might beat me up too. Eventually, if we absolutely had to go to his house, I would just wait outside and hide so that they didn't know I was around. We kind of became a secret I guess. Eventually, Kazuhito got thrown in jail, and that was around the same time that Sasuke's parents died. We were glad to be rid of them both. They really were horrible men.

"I don't know when we started loving each other, but I think it must have been set in stone from the day that I first saw his face. I just knew somehow that we would be good together. It's like we were made for each other, and I could feel it that first day. Neither of us could have made it so far without the other. We needed each other. I didn't understand back then _why_ he kept defying his father and being my friend. I felt useless. I really did. Sasuke was the only one who wanted me, but I thought that he'd just give in and leave too. Sometimes I still think that when I'm really down. He kept defying his dad though, even if he got beat up for it, and I'm glad that he did. Now I know that it must have been love that made Sasuke the only person to never abandon me." Karin cleared her throat nervously and Naruto followed in suit. "I... uh... don't mean to make you feel weird or anything. I mean, I know you didn't _mean_ to let me go or anything," he said awkwardly.

"Oh, no," Karin insisted. "It's fine. I um... I understand." Naruto nodded but shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Anyway," Karin went on, eager to get away from the tense subject, "Fugaku. He's very curious to me," she said.

"Why?" Naruto asked, glad for the deviation as well.

"It's strange that he allowed you two to become friends," Karin replied.

Naruto snorted. "Were you listening? He didn't allow it. He hated me," he argued.

"No," Karin refuted, shaking her head. "If Fugaku Uchiha had wanted you two separated, you would have been separated. He wouldn't have given Sasuke any option to defy him."

"So then why didn't he separate us?" Naruto asked.

"That's what I want to know," Karin answered. "Why _would_ he let his son befriend an Uzumaki? What confuses me even more is the fact that… well… you were his prisoner."

"Prisoner..." Naruto said quietly. It wasn't that he didn't know he was a prisoner. He just hadn't thought of it that way before. It put a whole new spin on his life, and he didn't like it.

"Fugaku was not a stranger to you. He was your captor," Karin pointed out.

"Yeah. Right. Okay," Naruto said. "I get it."

"Well, we know that they must have kept Akemi captive while Kazuhito was charged with your care," Karin went on. "I can only assume that Fugaku had plans for you. I mean, why else would he keep you alive? Why did they let you believe that you _weren't_ a prisoner, though, when you've really just been under their watchful eye the whole time? Furthermore, why trust Kazuhito, of all people, with you? Fugaku must have given you to Kazuhito for what I can only assume would be safekeeping, but he would have had to check up on Kazuhito to make sure that he didn't murder you just to spite your father.

"As you know, Kazuhito went to the Uchiha to exact revenge on our clan and on your dad. From then on, he became their puppet, so he would have had no choice but to comply when he was charged with you, but he still would have hated you simply for being your father's son," Karin reiterated. "It just seems like extra work for Fugaku by putting you in Kazuhito's care. It was a real gamble. I wonder what the point was. There must have been a reason for the trouble."

"Well, he could have had collateral to make sure that Kazuhito would behave," Naruto suggested.

"True," Karin agreed, nodding her head pensively.

"And maybe…" Naruto paused and swallowed hard. It wasn't exactly easy to bring this topic up. Not only had he never brought it up with anyone other than Sasuke, but he wasn't sure that he even _could_ do it without Sasuke. He had to muster up the courage to be independent though. "Maybe Kazuhito was given a bigger job," Naruto mused. He was prompted to continue when Karin's face took on a curious expression. "I mean,"—Naruto cleared his throat—"maybe his job wasn't just to take care of me, but maybe he was supposed to damage me. What better person to hurt me than the one who hated me the most?"

"Interesting," Karin said. "No matter what kind of collateral Fugaku had on Kazuhito, though, I don't know if he'd be able to restrain himself to simply _hurt_ you and not _kill_ you," she argued. "I don't see why Fugaku would have wanted you hurt anyway. I mean, maybe he would have gotten some sick pleasure from it or maybe it was Kazuhito's gift for being so loyal or maybe—"

"That's not the kind of hurt I mean," Naruto interrupted.

"Then... what do you mean?" Karin asked.

Naruto sighed heavily. This was really hard. "I mean... maybe for me to be useful, I needed to be clueless. How could Fugaku convince me to work for him after I had witnessed him murder my whole clan, right? I think he wanted me to forget, and I think he gave me to someone that he knew would get the job done."

"Okay," Karin said, "and it looks like he _did_ get the job done, since you don't remember your childhood." Naruto looked away from Karin to stare into space. "By hurting you?" she asked uncertainly. Naruto nodded slightly. "But not physically hurting you?" Naruto grimaced. "Okay," Karin said, "I don't understand what you mean. He hurt you, but not in a way that could lead to killing you... but it was still physical." Naruto nodded. "Naruto, _how_ did he hurt you?"

Naruto took a deep breath, deciding that it would be easier to just tell her at this point. "He used to do… things to me," he said quietly. Karin furrowed her brows in confusion. That was about as explanatory as anything else he had already said. "Because of those things," Naruto went on slowly, "I pretty much blocked out my entire childhood. That's why I don't remember you or Akemi or _anything_." Naruto gazed at Karin silently, trying to collect his nervous thoughts while Karin tried to make sense of his cryptic words.

"Okay," Karin finally said, "but things like what?"

Naruto tensed up and Karin could see that they must have been the kinds of things that Naruto didn't want to repeat out loud, as if him giving her the run around didn't already point to that. She offered out her hand, but Naruto just looked at it warily. He was considering if he actually wanted to show her such horrible memories, memories that he rarely thought upon himself.

After a few long moments of waiting, Karin finally said, "You don't have to."

"No," Naruto said, reaching out and grabbing her hand before it retreated too far. "I want to." He cleared his throat nervously. "How do I... uh... do this?" he asked.

"Just think hard on the memories and imagine passing them to me like a piece of paper. From your hand to mine," Karin explained. "Just relax. It'll come naturally."

Naruto took a deep breath and squeezed her hand before closing his eyes. Karin didn't even have time to close her own before the memories jumped into her head. She snatched her hand from Naruto's quickly and yelped, filled to the brim with disgust. She could not believe how astonishingly vivid and clear those images had been for Naruto's very first time at imprinting _or_ how quickly and easily they had come to her. She put those thoughts aside though. What she really couldn't believe was the sort of sick things that Kazuhito had done to her child. Naruto bowed his head in shame, feeling dirty and wishing that Sasuke was there to comfort him.

"Oh… my god," Karin whispered. "I… I'm so… Naruto… I…" She aborted words and chose to reach over to him instead.

Naruto shied away instinctively. "Don't," he said quietly. "I... I can't stand to be... touched... right now. Only Sas—" The name was too painful to get out. He was overly aware of just how badly he needed Sasuke now. Just thinking the name was bringing him to tears. "Let's just... move on," he suggested pleadingly, peering up at his aunt. Karin nodded slowly and so Naruto forged onward. "So, like I said, I think Kazuhito's job must have been to erase my memory," he said quietly.

Karin nodded. "It seems so," she agreed. "I wonder though. Did Kazuhito ever try to exploit your visions?" she asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't really remember," he said quietly. "I don't exactly go looking for those memories."

"I don't want to dig up any demons, but it could be helpful if you tried," Karin said softly, trying very hard to be considerate and, yet, not treat him as _too_ fragile. She wanted to ease his mood, not worsen it. She didn't know what would do more damage though: being careless or being overly attentive.

Naruto thought that even asking such a thing was inconsiderate to the fullest degree, but he couldn't be mad. If it might be helpful, if it might give him more answers to give to Sasuke, then he would just have to man up about it. He swallowed thickly and nodded. He would venture into that desolate place, he would dig up those dark memories, and he would figure out what had happened all those years ago with Kazuhito. It took quite some time, but Karin was patient. Eventually, Naruto spoke again.

"Before Kazuhito would… hurt me," he began quietly, looking down at his knees, "he would have talks with me. He was always asking me to have dreams about a boy. He showed me his picture." Naruto paused. "I would have these daydreams that must have just been visions. Then, after I gave him what he wanted, he would… do that… to me. Then, I guess I would just forget it all for my own sanity," he finished.

Karin calmly got up and crossed to a bookshelf. She searched it for something while Naruto just watched on quietly, trying to push the memories back into the dark corners of his mind. He had never unveiled them in Sasuke's absence before. Now, he was alone though, and it was proving to be a lot harder than he had imagined it would be.

When Karin finally found what she was looking for, she sat back down and offered Naruto a picture. "Is this who you saw?" she asked.

"Yeah," Naruto confirmed, "it is." He took the picture and looked at it incredulously. "How do you know him?" he asked.

"He was someone that your mother and I knew a long time ago. This is Takao," Karin said.

Naruto furrowed his brows. "Takao? As in the one who was supposed to take over the position as head of the clan after my grandfather? As in the guy whose job my dad stole? As in Kazuhito's—"

"Son?" Karin supplied. "Yes, that Takao. Kazuhito had you looking out for his son. He must have seen an opportunity in you. If his job was to create a clean slate out of you, then he would at least want to get something out of it for himself too."

"So glad that mystery is solved," Naruto said sarcastically. Karin rolled her eyes. She was glad that he was over the wounded puppy stint, but he didn't have to act so careless. "I'm all that not concerned about that tho—"

"You should be," Karin interjected.

Naruto sighed impatiently. He wanted to get on to things that would help _Sasuke_ already. How would his abusive childhood help Sasuke at all?

"Why?" he asked. "Who cares if Takao was Fugaku's collateral? Who cares if I was having visions of him as a child? Just who cares?"

"Naruto, it tells us exactly what they want," Karin said.

"Which is?" Naruto asked. "Because I thought it was pretty clear that they wanted Sasuke."

"No," Karin refuted, "it's you. Why would you be out and about so freely when you've been their prisoner since the age of five? Why would they let you go so easily when they worked so hard at making you forget and turning you into a tool? They wouldn't. You escaped them, and now they want you back."

"No, they want Sasuke back," Naruto argued. "Plus, why would they want me _now_?" he asked. "I spent so many years with Sasuke and they never wanted me then."

"The head of their clan died," Karin said. "They wouldn't have known what to do with his plans so easily. And don't forget that you're the one who stressed how much Sasuke's family hated him. Why would they want him back?"

"You said it yourself," Naruto replied. "The head of their clan died. It was his dad that started everything. If Fugaku hadn't hated Sasuke, then the clan would have accepted him. When Fugaku died, maybe they decided to stop hating Sasuke."

"Why would—"Karin began.

"Why are we even arguing over this?!" Naruto exclaimed.

Karin shrugged. "You're arguing with me," she said.

"You're arguing back," Naruto retorted.

"Because I'm right," Karin defended.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm over this," he said. "I don't _want_ them to want Sasuke. I don't want them to want either of us. If they have to be after anyone though, I want it to be me. I don't want Sasuke in danger."

"Well, I don't want _you_ in danger and I'm sure that Sasuke doesn't either," Karin retorted.

"Either way, you say I'm already in danger," Naruto replied.

Karin sighed. "Yeah, well, that's true," she said. "You are in danger. I _am_ curious as to why now though." Karin paused thoughtfully. "How is your relationship with Sasuke's brother and how is _his_ relationship with the clan?"

"Itachi was always kind to me," Naruto assured. "He always supported Sasuke and me. He even sent us to university on his own dime. He wanted the best for both of us. Sasuke doesn't talk about Ita much, but I don't think that Ita liked the clan much. It just wasn't in his personality. He and Sasuke both were always so different from their family. Ita was good at pretending though. He must have been because Fugaku accepted him, unlike Sasuke. Why?"

"Well, the Uchiha are a very traditional clan, so they would have chosen one of Fugaku's sons to succeed him no matter what," Karin explained. "That means that they must have chosen Sasuke's brother, since Sasuke isn't doing the job right now."

"That explains it," Naruto said. "Itachi would never have let them hurt me."

"He must have been protecting you then," Karin mused.

"For so many years," Naruto added. "All that time he was in there doing something he despised... just for me." Naruto smiled slightly to himself. "Feels like having my own brother."

"Well, where is he now?" Karin asked. "He may be able to help."

"I wish I knew," Naruto said sadly. "Itachi left to travel as soon as Sasuke and I went to university. He only writes occasionally."

"Damn. We need answers," Karin said. "We need someone who understands the Uchiha. What we know isn't exactly going to help us figure out what to do next. You can't just keep running and hope they never find you guys." Karin sighed sadly. "We need Akemi," she said quietly. "She'd have all that knowledge by now."

"Well, can't I just talk to her or something?" Naruto asked. "I mean, you and I shared all that stuff. Why can't I do the same with her?"

"You can. You just never had a chance to establish your connection before you two were abducted," Karin explained. "You don't have a foundation yet, so your bodies don't know how to receive each other. Though, you do have a lot of natural talent. You imprinted your thoughts onto me so easily before, even though you had never done it before."

"If I'm so good at it, then why can't I just try?" Naruto asked.

"It'll just be painful for her and fruitless for you," Karin said, "no matter how naturally good you are. It'll be like giving her headaches for no reason at all."

"Headaches like what?" Naruto asked.

"The images trying to come to you would be too unrefined, so they would just seem like flashes of bright lights. It would make your head feel like it was splitting in two," Karin said.

"I had headaches like that a few days ago," Naruto said, "but it seemed like they only started because of Sasuke. When he touched me, my head just exploded."

"Are you sure that it wasn't just a coincidence?" Karin asked.

"It happened that way both times," Naruto assured.

"Well, shit," Karin said. "It sounds like Akemi was trying to contact you and Sasuke was the trigger."

"Which means?" Naruto asked.

"It means that whatever she was trying to send you had something to do with Sasuke in some way," Karin began. "When you are first learning, you need stimuli to help you receive messages from your anchor. Touching something with the energy of whatever is being sent to you will help your inner eye receive it. For example, if your anchor is trying to send you a vision set in the woods, then touching some wood will help you get the images while you're still inexperienced.

"You have to remember that you two are a special case though. You've never done this with each other before, and we have no idea how far away she is. Distance is definitely a big factor in your situation. In normal situations, you are able to get very subtle hints from the message that will tell you what kind of trigger you need to use. After some practice and allowing your energies to acclimate to each other, it becomes easier and you'll stop needing triggers altogether."

"I didn't get any message telling me to touch Sasuke or anything," Naruto said. "In fact, I pushed him off me. I didn't _want_ him around."

"Of course not," Karin said. "The pain must have been awful. I don't imagine you would have wanted him touching you and forcing more of her energy into you at that time."

"But, then again, him touching me is what got it to stop," Naruto said. "When he was rubbing my back, it cut off the pain."

"Hm," Karin hummed pensively. "I guess that's because Sasuke calms you down. As an Uzumaki, you are more prone to energy. That means that when Sasuke is feeling emotions prominently, they affect you directly. You pick up on him so much because of your close relationship. You said earlier that you had always felt that way about Sasuke, like you could feel him. It was like that with Aki and me too from the moment that we met.

"When Sasuke projects energy, your body immediately responds to it. So when his goal is to calm you down or comfort you, it helps to stabilize your mood automatically. Even if he was the one triggering the pain, he was also able to overshadow it. That's not surprising, since your relationship with him is much stronger than yours with Akemi is. It would be easy for his energy to overpower hers at this point."

"Okay, but why did it hurt so much with Akemi to begin with?" Naruto asked. "You and I can communicate so easily."

"Imprinting is different," Karin began to explain. "Our souls are not connected because our energy is incompatible, so we can only communicate through a physical connection. If we were to use the same type of trigger at the same time, then it would be possible to communicate briefly without touch. That's very hard to orchestrate though. With you and Akemi, it's completely different. You energy _is_ compatible, and that's why you don't require physical contact.

"Your two energies were made to intertwine and that connection is still strong as children, so it doesn't take more than a couple of days for this sort of thing to be worked out normally. As you get older though, if you have not sealed your bond, then your connection grows feeble. At this point, you two have very little of each other left within you. Her energy is probably very faint for you, if not completely unrecognizable. When you try to send information between each other, it becomes painful because your inner eyes don't recognize each other anymore.

"Think of it this way. Your soul has been bound to you solely. When she tries to contact you, she is, essentially, ripping your soul from you and trying to merge it with hers. You instinctively reject each other. It would be much easier if you two were able to touch each other physically. That way your bodies could take energy from each other. Once you've shared energy, you'll be able to recognize each other again. It would still take a lot of extra time because it's been so long, but your souls would slowly merge as one, just as they should be."

"So _how_ exactly did Sasuke help me reach her?" Naruto asked.

"As I said, he must have had something to do with whatever Akemi was trying to send to you. His energy must have been in her message," Karin said. "You weren't able to pick up her messages right away. When Sasuke touched you, though, and you could feel his energy directly, your eye connected to Akemi's. He acted as a gateway. His energy connected the two of you. Because you are unpracticed, you would need triggers to connect at all."

Naruto nodded his head thoughtfully. "I wonder if she knows all of this," he mused. "I wonder if she understands how this all works."

"I don't know if she understands everything the way that I've explained it to you," Karin began, "but she understands it on some basic level. She remembers you, and she at least knows that she needs you. Why else would she reach out?"

"So I need to reach back to her," Naruto replied, nodding decisively. "If I'm so naturally good at all this stuff, then it'll work."

"It won't," Karin assured.

"I think it will," Naruto argued, "at least a little bit. Like you said yesterday, when Sasuke calmed me down, I was able to process what you imprinted on me. It was just like that with Akemi too. Once I calmed down, I could process what she sent to me."

"No," Karin refuted automatically. "Impossible."

"Don't be so hasty," Naruto warned. "She asked me to save her. I could see it her eyes. She wants me to come back for her. I saw it, Karin."

"It must have just been a vision of her," Karin said.

Naruto shrugged. "I guess that's possible too, but it happened in the car right after the headaches." Karin raised an interested brow. "I was just watching Sasuke sing, and that must have calmed me down like he does. After that, I started to see things, like how you showed them to me. Some of it was Sasuke, but one of the things that I saw was her face. Whatever she sent me, I got. It was broken and fragmented, but I got it. I think I can send her something too."

Karin shook her head in shock. "It should be impossible," she said.

"But I thought that's what triggers were for," Naruto pointed out. "If I used Sasuke as a trigger, then wasn't it supposed to work like that?"

"No, Naruto," Karin said. "It shouldn't be possible," she said slowly. "You shouldn't have even gotten a glimpse of those things, not even with a trigger. It's been fifteen years since you've had contact with her. There is no way that you could connect successfully. It's impossible. It can't be."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, it happened," he said simply.

"You're not understanding how big of a deal this is," Karin said, getting very serious. "Your energy has to be on a whole other level for you to do that. To be able to even catch as little as you did from that is incredible. It's otherworldly, Naruto. It's impossible! I don't understand."

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked.

"You!" Karin exclaimed. "What you've done is crazy, Naruto! It's unheard of! How can you feel her? How? I don't understand!"

"Okay!" Naruto exclaimed back. "Just calm down about it."

"To be able to communicate like that on your very first try and under such strenuous circumstances would require so much energy, energy that you can't possibly have!" Karin said feverishly. She began to examine Naruto carefully, poking at him limbs and studying his facial features in a comedic fashion. At least she had calmed down a bit though. When she lifted up his shirt, Naruto finally reacted by flinching and smoothing the fabric back over his stomach flatly.

"Uh… I don't think you'll find any extra energy under there," he said, blushing lightly.

Karin came out of whatever serious repose she'd taken up and smirked. "I'm not looking for energy," she said. "I'm looking for something else entirely."

"Which is?" Naruto asked.

"Let me show you," Karin said, holding out her hand. Naruto took it easily, having already gotten used to this type of communication. "Get ready," Karin warned. "You're in for a real shock, Naruto."

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you guys forgive me for taking so long to update :( I hate being that author who can't keep up with their shit lol I just don't know what happens to me. I'm totally trying to get on an update schedule to at least update every weekend. We'll see if I can't keep that promise! If you guys review and remind me that there are people out there waiting for me, then it might help a little bit. I am _not_ saying that I'll update only if I get reviews. I'll update no matter what. I guess I just get sidetracked and stuff. Stay on my ass though, and then maybe I'll be able to kick my butt into gear xD


	13. Chapter 13: Abduction Part I

**A/N:** This chapter also went unbeta'd. What's wrong with me? I went to so much trouble to find good betas, and then I get all antisocial all the sudden. Who am I? What am I doing? Anyway, this is where the fic takes a dark turn, people. Be prepared.

**Warning:  
**—Rape, but it is vague and nondescript. Do not fret.  
—Torture, but I'd rather call it punishment. It _is_ physical abuse though.  
—Unavoidable blood. It's not gory though, so don't sweat it. I can't handle gore myself :/  
—A sad, sad blond :(

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Abduction Part I  
**

Naruto stared resolutely out the window of the car, enforcing a heavy silence that he had been too preoccupied to even notice between Karin and himself. He couldn't help it if his mind was trained on Sasuke though. But, really, wasn't it always? He thought about all the things that he couldn't wait to share with Sasuke, and then he thought about all the things that he _didn't_ want to share. Yes, there were definitely some things that he would keep to himself, things that Sasuke didn't need to know.

Sasuke truly was a beautiful human being. He was loyal, kind, compassionate, understanding, patient, and sweet. Of course, he wasn't much of that with anyone other than Naruto... but what did that matter? What mattered was that Sasuke really was that wonderful person beneath his hard exterior. If you could manage to worm your way into his heart, you could see that part of him easily. Sasuke was his true self only with Naruto because he was comfortable around the blond, and only when Sasuke was truly comfortable could you see what kind of person he truly was. He hid neither his strongest nor weakest attributes from Naruto. He wasn't afraid to laugh and be goofy, nor was he afraid to be fragile either; and, truthfully, Sasuke was such a fragile guy. Even if he always treated Naruto like the china doll in the relationship, he was more breakable than the blonde had ever proven to be.

Still, Sasuke was Naruto's beacon of light. He was a lot like a puzzle. Most people only had a few pieces, so the big picture never made sense to them. However, Sasuke had shared all the pieces of his life with Naruto. Naruto could see Sasuke as a whole for who he truly was and how he came to be that man. With that knowledge, Naruto was able to look past petty things like a bland personality or a bleak outlook on life. Such things could do nothing to tarnish the man in Naruto's eyes. Even if he didn't seem like much of a light to anyone else, he was to Naruto.

Sasuke had been tossed about his whole life though. That was why he seemed so one-dimensional to everyone, because he had been purposely pushed to become so calloused and rough. As a child, solitude was forced upon him. As per Sasuke's personal recitations, Naruto knew that Sasuke's childhood had been a real tough one. He had been an outsider to his father for as long as he could remember. Even before Naruto came along, Sasuke was never good enough for Fugaku. Even if Fugaku insisted that Sasuke was a burden to the family, even if he proclaimed that Sasuke would never be accepted, he also never failed to remind Sasuke that he was still an Uchiha. Because of that, Sasuke still had standards to uphold.

Even as a mere child, Sasuke was ridiculed by his family. Although his mother stayed mostly quiet, she still shared the same hateful eyes as Fugaku. Itachi had always been far from hateful, but he never made that known—lest their father turn on him too—so Sasuke had always been the victim of severe abuse. Fugaku purposely isolated him, never allowing him to make friends. In Fugaku's own words, Sasuke was worthless as an Uchiha but vastly important as a human being. He was the lowest on the Uchiha totem pole, but just bearing the name Uchiha made him at the top in the rest of society. Not only were the Uchiha in general far too good to associate with any of the children that Sasuke ever wanted to play with, but Fugaku insisted that Sasuke was just too awful for any child anywhere to like anyway.

He forced many deranged ideas onto Sasuke. Sasuke was chastised for his uselessness. He was not allowed to be treated as important within the clan, but he was still expected to act like the perfect Uchiha child anyway. Among many other things, he was punished for lashing out, showing interest in anyone or anything that was not permitted by his father, and falling short of his Fugaku's expectations. That wasn't unlike any other Uchiha child though. The difference between Sasuke and any other Uchiha child was that Sasuke was often punished just to be punished for no apparent reason at all. Though he never received any unprovoked beatings and his father's hand was no heavier than any of the rest in the clan, Sasuke was also punished in different ways that the other children were never forced to face.

Even if all the other kids were being raised to become the same obedient drones too, they were still raised knowing that, at least in the most basic form, they were loved. They could still walk around feeling pride and joy. They were happy children. Sasuke didn't have that luxury though. He had known that he was far from loved since he was capable of knowing anything at all. Feeling like the black sheep was worse than the beatings too. At least he knew that there were other children hurting just like he was when he was beaten. However, he truly was alone in quest for love and acceptance. He wasn't only starved of affection, but he was the only child in the clan guaranteed to never receive it, neither from his family nor anyone else.

Sure, when the other kids did wrong, they were punished just like Sasuke was. As children, they were often cut some slack; but, as they grew older, the beatings worsened if they did not meet the proper standard. At some point, they all just learned to stop doing wrong. Eventually, they didn't need beatings anymore. When they did right, they were praised; they were loved; and they were showered with affection. Sasuke was not though. Doing right just meant that his father didn't hit him. _His_ punishment was never-ending. He had to endure being a burden every day of his life. He was not like those other children at all. He wasn't allowed to be.

So, you see, Fugaku forced Sasuke into becoming the rough man that he currently was. Actually, what the abuse did was turn Sasuke into the hard _shell_ of a man that everyone was allowed to see, for Sasuke did not display himself honestly. He couldn't because he was really just a fragile boy. He was raised to believe that frailty was a crime though, so he became the heartless, cold drone that he was always meant to be. The harsh Uchiha way would, certainly, have a strong effect on any child, but Sasuke must have suffered double. He must have been on the track to becoming a colder, crueller human being. He had been on the road to damnation since he was born.

If simply being raised the Uchiha way wasn't damning enough, then the fact that Sasuke literally _could not_ interact with anyone without scaring off or offending them definitely was. The Uchiha way produced unapproachable men. After all, it was meant to produce detached assassins loyal only to their own clansmen. The Uchiha way created Sasuke's exterior. It created his snide remarks, his uncaring attitude, his cold shoulder, his harsh sneers, his perfect poker face, his impassive gaze, and every other Uchiha thing that Naruto absolutely hated. That was not all Sasuke was though. That was just the shell that he projected.

Other Uchiha were raised with confidence though. The shell that Sasuke projected was how those other Uchiha truly felt on the inside. Sasuke, however, was a whole other product. He was created with a shocking lack of confidence and self-worth. He only exuded such things because Uchiha were supposed to. Many kinds of awful thoughts that Fugaku drilled into his head kept Sasuke firmly convinced that he would only be abandoned by people in the end, considering he was even able to react kindly to them in the first place. He would always be alone because he was useless, hopeless, and disappointing. It was the abuse—some of which was for no good reason at all, not that there's ever a good reason for abuse—that did that to him. He truly was a child shrouded in darkness, condemned to a life of hatred—if not toward everyone else, then simply toward himself.

What's worse was that the extra abuse Sasuke suffered was simply because his father didn't like him very much. How could a man even manage to feel no love at all for his own son? Early on, once Sasuke had learned to conform to the Uchiha standard, his father then claimed that Sasuke's lack of companionship was actually Sasuke's fault alone. After all, how could anyone love Sasuke? Hadn't he looked at himself in the mirror? Hadn't he seen what a disappointment he was? Hadn't he noticed how unappealing he had always been? Even if someone found him attractive one day, it would be just for his looks because all Uchiha were good looking. It was a gift that he was not worthy of. He could never receive true affection though because he was an ugly beast on the inside, and that was his own fault entirely. Sasuke would never amount to anything in anyone's eyes. Those were the lies that Fugaku filled his son's head with.

He fully intended to put Sasuke out as soon as he was able to do so legally, not wanting to keep the child any longer than necessary. It seemed that he had more than one objective with Sasuke though. Raising Sasuke the Uchiha way, even if he was adamant that Sasuke wasn't fit for the clan, was to ensure that Sasuke wouldn't belittle the Uchiha name. Sasuke may not have deserved the Uchiha pride, but he was born into it nonetheless. Therefore, he would be raised to protect it. Fugaku opted to raise Sasuke with the extra abuse and hatred just to ensure that he would throw Sasuke out into the world with no people skills at all. It seemed that he wanted Sasuke to suffer for the rest of his life. He wanted Sasuke miserable.

So Sasuke's calm, cool, collected self was only ever just a ruse. Had they had the tools to delve deep enough, anyone could have seen just how stunted Sasuke was. He was really still just a child. He was just a young boy desperate for recognition and praise. He only ever wanted to be accepted, to be good enough for someone. What he believed in himself was entirely negative. He had grown up thinking that he truly was meant to be alone, if he was even meant to be alive at all. He could never kill himself though, even if he thought about it multiple times, because that would only further disgrace his clan. Being born into the clan alone was enough to force him to live by their rules. It forced him to protect the Uchiha name and act as he had always been taught to act; and he did so with a sad hope that some day his father might, perhaps, be proud of him for that. The turmoil just beneath the surface was always masterfully suppressed because it was very Uchiha-like to suppress it, and Sasuke simply _had_ to be Uchiha-like. It was his only option.

And Sasuke had done nothing to deserve any of that pain. He had simply been born into the wrong family. His father had no right to hate him. Fugaku's hatred had earned him the cold shoulder from his entire family and clan. Fugaku's actions had earned him an ensured lifetime of loneliness. An Uchiha accepted by the clan had no real need for social skills—although, they likely developed them anyway—so, even if they were raised to believe that they were above such petty things, they could most definitely still make friends and socialize outside of the clan anyway. Itachi, for example, was always allowed to have friends, and he had plenty of them outside the clan that did not hate him at all.

An Uchiha would most likely turn out to be that self-righteous, condescending, holier-than-thou prick that rubbed everyone the wrong way, at least until they got used to the social norms, but they could still thrive just like Itachi did. Sasuke could not though. Sasuke was not only raised to be the self-righteous, condescending, holier-than-thou prick that rubbed everyone the wrong way, but he was also raised to be the insecure, miserable, self-critical type too. He was meant to be an outcast everywhere he went, courtesy of his father. And what had earned him such an ugly life? Why had he been born into such a brutal clan? Why had he suffered so much? There was really no reason for any of it. Sasuke was just unlucky.

His one stoke of luck was that Naruto had found him. It truly was luck too, since Naruto was really just Fugaku's prisoner and they were never actually supposed to meet. If Naruto really thought about it though, maybe it wasn't luck at all. Fugaku had always been dead set on isolating Sasuke, and Karin did point out that he would never have taken no for answer, especially not from Sasuke. Naruto already knew that, of course, but Karin did reiterate it for him. He was forced to think of things from a different angle, just as Karin had been trying to make him do. Why _would_ Fugaku let Naruto be the one and only person that Sasuke could interact with? Fugaku _tried_ to discourage it, yes. Yet, Sasuke and Naruto had still been able to stick together in the end. Fugaku must never have truly put his foot down.

Maybe it wasn't luck at all. Maybe it was actually by Fugaku's design. Then again, maybe Naruto's triviality combined with Fugaku's distaste of Sasuke just made for one giant conglomeration of insignificance. Maybe Fugaku just couldn't be bothered to care if Sasuke associated with Naruto. Fugaku certainly planned to have Naruto ripped from Sasuke's life anyway. Naruto _was_ a prisoner and there _were_ plans for his use. Sasuke was probably allowed to indulge in Naruto only because Fugaku knew that it wouldn't last long. Eventually, Sasuke would find suffering in that relationship too, only enforcing the fact that he should isolate himself. That seemed to be all that Fugaku had ever wanted for Sasuke... suffering and isolation.

Naruto had to wonder: if they had never met, then what would have become of Sasuke? It wasn't like Naruto changed Sasuke immediately. That was a process that they were _still_ undergoing. Sasuke's life had definitely taken a right turn though. He definitely would not be as he was now if they had never met. He _couldn't_ be, not after everything that he had already been put through. Just like Naruto, Sasuke had lost his innocence as a small child. He never had the time to be ignorant. He suffered so much so fast. It just wasn't fair. For once, though, Sasuke was actually ignorant of something that could hurt him or scare him or just generally throw him off kilter. Naruto wanted to protect that innocence, an innocence that Sasuke had never been allowed to have. Naruto knew that there was sometimes bliss in ignorance, so he wanted to shield Sasuke's eyes this once.

And why shouldn't he? Didn't Sasuke deserve that? Hadn't he earned the right to be clueless? Yes, Naruto would protect Sasuke. He had uncovered some things with Karin that he feared would only cause Sasuke suffering, and he wanted no part in that. He only ever wanted to see Sasuke happy, so he would seal his lips on certain subjects. Sasuke would have done the same for him.

He hadn't intended to spend a whole other day with Karin, but Sasuke was set on being moody and refusing to answer Naruto's calls. So, really, Naruto had no choice but to stay another day. In the end though, he would say that the past two days in Sasuke's absence had been for the best. He was still on the slow track to independence, but that was just fine with him. After talking with Karin, he could appreciate his best friend on a whole different level. He really had no idea just what Sasuke had meant to him before. Sasuke had been a part of his life before either of them had even known it. Sasuke truly was Naruto's core.

Even if he was thankful for his time alone with Karin, Naruto still couldn't wait to be in Sasuke's arms again. Even if Sasuke wanted to continue to be moody, Naruto would wiggle in and demand otherwise. He knew that Sasuke would be missing him too. It wouldn't be hard to initiate a round of makeup sex... or two... or three or four. Needless to say, he was glad to be on his way back to the motel, and he opted to think less of worrisome things and more of how quickly he could get Sasuke into bed.

"You alright?" Karin asked, breaking Naruto's thoughts.

"Yeah," he replied easily, smirking at his mental image of a flustered Sasuke and continuing to gaze out the window. Oh, yeah. He was definitely going to top today.

"Wanna talk about anything?" Karin asked.

"Huh?" Naruto replied vacantly, still dwelling on Sasuke and his perfectly fuckable—

"What are you thinking about?" Karin asked.

Slowly, Naruto turned his gaze to her. He wasn't embarrassed enough to blush, but he _was_ so caught off guard that he couldn't think up a good lie quick enough. Instead, he just stared blankly at Karin, an expression that she misinterpreted.

"Are you thinking of..." Karin paused and cleared her throat, "—you know, what I showed you?"

Naruto furrowed his brows confusedly. What had she... oh... _that_. "No," he said quietly, recognizing what topic she was getting into and growing serious, "I wasn't." He turned to stare out the window again, though his thoughts had fallen back onto the worrisome track.

"Do you _want_ to talk about it?" Karin asked.

"I don't," Naruto replied shortly.

"Naruto—"

"I'm fine!" he snapped. Feeling instantly bad, Naruto looked apologetically to Karin. "I just wanna get back to him," he said. "I miss him is all." He stared out the windshield and sighed. "I wanna spend time with him while I still have it," he added quietly.

"Understandable," Karin said. "Well... don't be afraid to call me, even if he tries to monopolize all your time."

"Mhm," Naruto hummed absently, looking back out his window again.

"I mean it," Karin went on.

"I will," Naruto said flippantly, perking up as they pulled into the motel parking lot.

"Naruto, I'm serious," Karin insisted.

"I know," Naruto replied vacantly, clicking the door handle and already moving to get out of the car.

"Naruto!" Karin exclaimed, grabbing his arm to stop him. He leaned back into his seat and turned to look at her questioningly. Karin sighed. "I love you," she said softly with tears in her eyes, "so, really, don't be afraid to call me."

Naruto smiled a genuine smile and nodded. How had almost forgotten who he was talking to? This was a woman who truly loved him, and she was the only one other than Sasuke. "I love you too, Karin," he assured, leaning over and hugging her tightly, "and I will call."

Karin sniffled to ward of her tears. "Please promise me."

"I promise," Naruto said, leaning away and looking her in the eyes. "I will."

Karin nodded. "Alright. Go, then," she shooed, grinning. "Sasuke's waiting."

Naruto was glad to see that she had warmed up to his boyfriend. Now he just had to get Sasuke to do the same. Shit, if he thought that Karin was stubborn, he knew that he'd be in for a shock with Sasuke. Sasuke was definitely not going to be easy. Well, not regarding his relationship with Karin anyway. In other respects, Naruto was fairly positive that Sasuke _would_ be easy, very easy indeed. Naruto go out of the car chuckling to himself as his thoughts rounded back to Sasuke's perfectly fuckable—

"I can see that his absence is driving you to hysterics," Karin teased, interrupting Naruto's dirty thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said, warding off the teasing with a dismissive wave of the hand.

He bade Karin a final goodbye but stayed outside to watch her leave. Once she was gone from his sights, he breathed a heavy sigh. He hadn't realized how much he would miss her. It would be alright though. It wasn't forever. Plus, there was something else that he missed much more right now, and that was Sasuke's perfectly fuckable—

Fuck. Was he ever gonna finish that damn thought? No time to think about Sasuke or his butt though. Naruto's thoughts were trained on something else entirely now, having turned and seen the door to his room slightly ajar. He furrowed his brows. Sasuke would never leave the door open like that unless he was feeling extra moody and just stormed out the room, not caring what state he left the door in. Sasuke wasn't that impulsive though. Naruto glanced around and found his car easily. So Sasuke didn't take the car. It wasn't exactly freezing outside, but it wasn't warm either. Sasuke always complained about the cold, so he definitely wasn't walking outside. Naruto took a step toward the room, feeling very confused indeed. Why was the door cracked?

Upon moving closer, Naruto felt a heavy sense of foreboding upon him, making the question ever more prominent in his mind: why was the door cracked? He moved closer and a sense of dread knotted up his stomach. He got the feeling that not only should he not, under _any_ circumstances, open that door or even get any closer to it for that matter, but he should turn and run the other way. Why the fuck was the door cracked?! The instinct to run and flee only drove Naruto forward. Sasuke was in that room, or at least he was supposed to be. Whatever his Uzumaki instincts were picking up on only made Naruto feel the need to be next to Sasuke immediately. He could not wait. He didn't even have the time to be afraid.

In a change of pace, his panic gave way to a wave of malice. He recognized it immediately as out of place. It definitely wasn't _his_ emotion. It didn't feel like Sasuke's either. He didn't know specifically what Sasuke's emotions felt like or that they even had a feel to begin with. He did, at least, consciously know how it felt to be in Sasuke's presence though, and this wasn't Sasuke at all. The foreign feeling pushed him into overdrive. His next step was the beginning of a sprint, but something was abruptly thrown over his head. He was lost in a darkness before his foot could even hit the floor, causing him to slip up and stumble forward. Before he could react, or even stop stumbling, his hands were already gathered and bound behind his back. Had he even been able to see, he probably wouldn't have seen it happen anyway because it was so fast.

Unable to worry about himself, even if something _had _just been thrown over his head to blind him and his hands _had_ just been bound, Naruto was still set on the motel room. "Sasuke!" was the only thought that he could form, and so it was the thought that left his lips. It was terrified, desperate, and confused; and it went unanswered.

He was left to stumble around blindly for a few long moments. If the giggles of the person who had apparently bound his hands were any indication, then he was left to stagger about purely for entertainment too. Only when Naruto felt some invisible force urging him to turn and run forward did the giggler decide that the fun was over. They tried to grab and stop Naruto, and they _would_ have succeeded, Naruto guessed, if his instincts hadn't told him to shift his weight to the right and out of the way. He supposed that he would have been tripped too, had his instincts not told him to jump. He wasn't sure what was compelling him to react as if he could see exactly what was coming at him, but he listened to it easily.

He figured that it wasn't the time to be questioning himself, so he listened when his body urged him to duck. Then, he took two giant steps forward, pivoted, and ducked again. Next, he threw out a right roundhouse. He was more than surprised when his kick connected with something that felt at least remotely like a human being. No time for shock though. Pivot. Duck. Back kick. Again, he managed to actually hit the person and heard them gasp for air. Turn just a hair to the right, follow the invisible force guiding you, and run.

He heard a man grind out breathlessly, "You fuck!" Then, more instincts came to him. Stop. Shift to the left. Duck. Bend elbows and lift arms. Sure enough, he felt fingers swipe against his back where his hands had just been. Shift to the right. Turn and right roundhouse with all your fucking might. His shin connected heavily with something hard, and then a loud cry of pain rang out before he heard the other man's body thud against the ground. He paused to listen intently for a moment.

Even if he often skipped the morning run with Sasuke in favor of sleeping in, Naruto still made it to the gym often. He'd never been in a serious fist fight before, so he could only assume that having worked out a fair amount was what made his body relatively limber enough to do whatever the hell he just did. As for how exactly he was able to just fight that man as if he'd been fighting his whole life... well... that was inexplicable. He expected that it probably had something to do with his inner eye too though, along with whatever force it was that kept guiding him forward. It felt like a string charged with energy, and he knew that it was guiding him to Sasuke. He attributed that force to the fact that, as Karin had said, he was able to sense people and their auras really easily, especially Sasuke's.

The instinct to run was sickeningly overwhelming, making him feel as if he would die if he didn't comply. Promptly, he turned 180 and ran in the direction that his gut told him to go, following the proverbial string drawing him right to Sasuke. He didn't question it because it didn't seem strange to him that he could feel such a connection to Sasuke so easily. He was confident in his instincts at this point, considering he had just managed to knock out a man while blind-folded with his hands tied behind his back purely on his instincts alone. He felt like an animal fleeing for its life, except Sasuke's life was the only thing on his mind.

He hadn't been more than thirty feet away from the motel room to begin with, but he knew that he was only a couple of feet away now. He was close. So close. Needless to say, he was displeased when he felt the need to stop and turn again. Reacting without hesitation, he twisted to throw out a heavy roundhouse, spinning around so quickly that he actually heard his silent approacher skid to a halt. Thinking that he had the person for sure, he was shocked when his leg connected with nothing. His momentum threw him off balance, but he managed to keep himself from face planting. Remembering that his hands were bound and that attempting to flail like a fish would do him no service anyway, he bristled with anger.

His entire body was screaming at him to move left or right or anywhere that was not where his body currently stood. Seeing as he was in the middle of trying not to fall flat on his face though, he didn't really have anywhere to go. His opponent took advantage of his lack of balance and kicked him firmly in the lower back, pushing him forward until his face slammed into a door. He wasted no time worrying about the pain in his face or the gush of blood from his nose. Having fallen to his knees, he swung himself to the right onto his ass and then rolled back up onto his knees again quickly. Just in time. He heard whatever attack that was just thrown at him slam into the door where he had just been moments before.

Immediately, he began to get to his feet. Before he could stand completely up though, maybe by sheer luck alone, he felt an arm or a leg ghost over the top of his head, ruffling his hair lightly. It must have just been a lapse in his opponent's judgement that kept him from sustaining a hard blow to the head. That forced him to register the fact that he was absolutely out of his element here, and it was a fucking miracle that he'd done so much and gotten so far up until this point already. He had no time to dawdle though. His body was instantly shifting, presumably to dodge another attack that it somehow knew was coming. Then, he was throwing his leg out to sweep his attacker at the knees. He felt the person's feet just scrape his jeans in a narrow escape, prompting him to curse aloud.

His anger consumed him further. He was so damn close to hitting this person. If he could just land a fucking kick, he could be on his merry way to Sasuke. Sasuke. That clicked something more primal on in his brain: the need to protect his mate. Opting to clear his head again and simply let his body react as it was so obviously content to do, Naruto began to move with even more fluidity than before.

He felt something graze past him and scrape the bag over his head slightly when he shifted sharply the right. He ignored it and threw out an almost lazy kick that wasn't really meant to connect but just to push his target away so that he could set up a combo too complex for him to even consciously create. He nearly doubled over forward dodging something else and then turned 180, throwing out a back kick with his left leg. He didn't allow himself to be shocked when his foot was caught, even though it threw off the entire sequence. He could feel his opponent beginning to twist his ankle, so he twisted his hips sharply in the same direction. His right leg came up like a bat out of hell and slammed into something hard. Finally, something connected.

He concluded that he must have just hit an arm or something though, because this person didn't make any noises like the last one. He couldn't be sure that he had even kicked high enough to hit the person's face. However, drawing from the fact that his body had been reacting incredibly thus far and doing pretty damn well about it too, he'd bet that his kick was exceptional. His body, at least, seemed to know what the fuck was happening. He just assumed that his opponent was faster than him and had been able to block the blow. He was in a whole other predicament now though, considering there was nothing to support his weight and his arms were bound... and he was horizontal in the air, _falling_. He grunted in pain when he hit the ground on his left side. At least he had effectively gotten his attacker to release his ankle though. He had also awarded himself a few precious moments while his opponent was confused.

Even if he didn't knock the out, he apparently still hit them good because he could hear his attacker cursing sharply under their breath. He brought his knees up to his chest and managed to roll with enough momentum to get up on them. The second that he was up though, he felt a great weight crash in between his shoulders knocking him back down. He cried out as his face skidded against the concrete floor. When his chest slammed down in succession though, he fell silent as his breath rushed out of his lungs. He huffed a few strained breaths before squawking in pain at the way his attacker's knee pushed down between his shoulder blades as they leaned forward to whisper in his ear, "Gotcha, bitch."

Naruto held his breath. Was that a woman? He didn't really have time to care though. She jammed her fingers into a spot at the base of his neck, and he instantly blacked out.

* * *

… _I'd rather die … I'll never be part of this … I'll kill you, even if it kills me … I'm nothing like you …_

Naruto woke slowly as the words rang out through his head.

… _nothing like you_ … _nothing like you_ …

He snapped his eyes open, hoping that it would rid himself of the voice echoing throughout his mind. The words were painful, and he didn't want to hear them anymore. He wanted them to stop.

… _nothing … like … you …_

The words continued to patronize him, so he let out a frustrated shout. He was surprised to hear a voice cut through the darkness that he only now realized was still pressing upon him. He had opened his eyes, hadn't he?

"Naruto?" the voice questioned quietly. It was a woman's voice, foreign and, yet, so familiar. He didn't answer, so she spoke again. "Are you awake?" she asked.

Naruto moved his arms automatically and heard the heavy clanking of chains. His brows knit in confusion as he realized that his wrists were restricted. Was _he_ in chains? He only then began to notice that his arms were, in fact, hanging lazily at about the level of his head, bound securely at the wrists. He shifted and noticed that he was sitting on an extremely hard floor against a very cold wall. He began to panic and pull frantically against his binds as he realized the reality of his situation.

"It's no use," the soft voice informed him. "You'll only hurt yourself."

Naruto stopped his movements. "W-What? I couldn't hear you."

"I said, it's useless. You'll just hurt yourself if you struggle," she repeated louder than before.

"W-Who are you? Where am I? What's happening here?" Naruto questioned immediately. A glimpse of a memory surfaced. He remembered skidding across the ground after being knocked down. His breath began coming to him quicker. He remembered blindly fighting two people. He remembered the door. It was ajar. Naruto's chest was heaving. "Sasuke!" he cried out into the darkness. "Sasuke! Where are you?!"

"Sasuke's not here," the soft voice replied. "Please, settle down."

"Who are you?! Where's Sasuke?!" Naruto shouted, panic-stricken.

"Please," the voice pleaded timidly. "Please, I'm not the enemy. I'm a prisoner too. If you don't calm down, then you'll pass out. Trust me; you're gonna wanna be awake when they come."

"P-Prisoner?" Naruto questioned, his voice returning to a slightly more normal level.

The woman sighed quietly. "Yes," she answered, sounding truly pained by the idea. "You're a prisoner, and so am I, and so is Sasuke."

"Where is he?" Naruto asked again, much softer this time.

"I don't know," she answered. "He's not with us though."

"Wh-Wh-What?" Naruto breathed out, having interpreted her words to imply that Sasuke's fate had been sealed. "H-He's d-d-d..." Naruto trailed off, feeling very sick and unable to spit the word out. It made it feel so final and irreversible. No. No, Sasuke couldn't be...

"No!" the woman exclaimed hurriedly. "He's not dead! He's just not _here_ with us. That's what I meant. I'm sorry."

A wave of relief washed over Naruto and he heaved a heavy sigh. He was unable to fully relax, though, as the full realization that he was someone's prisoner hit him. Rather than panic, he found himself wanting to cry. Had he failed Sasuke? Were they captured by the Uchiha? Were they exactly where they were trying so desperately to not be? Naruto couldn't protect Sasuke, and now he had no idea where Sasuke was or if Sasuke was even okay. It must have been an unintentional whine or whimper from Naruto that prompted the woman to speak in a very tentative tone.

"Please," she began softly, "don't cry, Naruto. I-I wouldn't like that at all."

Naruto took a moment to compose himself. "Who _are_ you?" he questioned. "How do you know me?"

"We're old friends. I think you don't—" The soft voice broke off abruptly when the sound of a door being unlocked and opened rang down to their ears. "Compose yourself!" she snapped in a hushed tone. "They're coming!"

"Wh—" Naruto began questioning, but he was cut off as a loud clang resonated through the space as the door slammed shut.

There was a dim light shining down to illuminate the space beyond his bars. He realized that he was in a cell, and he could just barely see the bars of a cell directly across from him too. That must have been where the woman was. The light grew brighter as the sound of footsteps traveled down what were definitely stairs. Naruto could eventually see his feet in the dim light. His shoes had been taken. If he had been less preoccupied, he would have noticed how cold his feet were earlier. He shifted to sit cross-legged and warm them up as best as he could.

He looked across the hall but still saw no sign of the woman. The light grew even brighter as it came closer. Soon, Naruto could see his torso too. He took notice that he didn't have a shirt either. He looked back across the hall and saw the woman's body curled up against the wall. She wasn't chained to the wall like Naruto was though. Instead, she was hunched over and hugging her legs. She was dressed in dark, ripped jeans with a blue t-shirt and covered in dirt, grime, and dried blood. Her face was turned away into the shadows still, so Naruto couldn't quite see her features. He could see the ends of very blonde hair though.

He was straining his eyes to see her better when the entire area was suddenly illuminated by fluorescent light. He winced against the unexpected brightness and closed his eyes instinctively to get away from it. He heard people murmuring to each other and shuffling around out of sight. As the brightness began to grow on him, he used it to squint around and survey his surroundings. His cell was tiny and there was nothing inside of it but himself and the chains that bound him to the wall. His wrists were clamped in shackles attached to very short chains that only allowed his hands to move a couple of inches away from the wall. He could see clearly that the hallway didn't extend past the cells. It was short and narrow. If they both tried, he'd bet he and that woman could even touch hands. That was, of course, if he wasn't chained to a wall.

He could only see a small part of the hall to the left, but he determined that the steps leading down must have terminated just a few feet beyond what he could see. He looked back over to the woman's cell again, and he was shocked by what he saw. She was just a young girl, no older than himself. She had blue eyes as vivid as the ocean and yellow hair as bright as the sun. She was _Akemi_. She watched Naruto draw in a deep breath and hold it as he processed what he was seeing. His eyes began to water as multiple emotions flooded through him. Her eyes stayed dark though, as if she didn't feel anything at all.

"Naruto." A man's voice cut through Naruto's emotions and caused him to release his breath. Naruto, however, did not look up to the source of the voice. One of the men who had descended the stairs moved hurriedly, his keys jangling. Had Naruto been watching, he would have seen the man unlock his door before being stopped by the same voice who had spoken Naruto's name.

"That's quite alright," the voice said, reaching an arm out and stopping his associate. "He doesn't know how things work around here yet. He's emotional, you see?" the voice said patronizingly. Naruto finally tore his eyes from Akemi to regard the two men. One was dressed in all black with long, black hair to match. He was the bearer of the keys. The other had short, spiky, white hair and wore an obviously expensive black suit with a red shirt beneath. His strangest attribute was the black patch he wore over his left eye. He was, clearly, the other man's boss, and he smiled when Naruto looked at him. "Ah!" he exclaimed. "You see? The shock has passed." The white-haired man motioned to Akemi. "I see you two have met. It must be shocking to see that face in the light after so many years."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

The man with the keys moved again before the white-haired man stopped him with his arm. "Straight to the point. I like that," he replied. "My name is Kakashi, and you will do as I command. Otherwise, you will be punished, as Kaito is so eager to prove." Kakashi smiled wickedly. "You are still learning, Naruto, so you will not be punished for your actions just yet. Instead, I am here to talk... to inform, really. Would you like that?"

Naruto didn't want to respond. He didn't want to talk to the man at all. He just wanted him to turn around and walk back up the stairs, but he was curious too. He wanted to know where he was, where Sasuke was. "Yes," was his clipped, reluctant response.

"Good," Kakashi nearly sang with a smirk as he motioned to Kaito, who rushed out of sight as commanded. He returned with a chair, which he placed at the end of the hall for Kakashi to sit in. Kaito, then, returned to his spot by the cell doors. "You must have questions. Just this once, you may ask them. Be warned that speaking out of line will cost you in the future though," Kakashi informed. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he growled at the man. Kaito's movements were stopped by a sharp wave of Kakashi's hand. "I said leave it. You will wait for my word, Kaito," Kakashi commanded. Kaito nodded curtly. "A bad temper won't help you either," Kakashi added to Naruto. "In any case, you may ask what you please."

"Where am I?" Naruto asked heedlessly.

"In a dungeon," Kakashi answered plainly, "obviously."

Naruto rolled his eyes, causing Kaito to tense up. "You know what I mean!" Naruto snapped.

"What, no sense of humor?" Kakashi asked, playfully pouting like a child.

Naruto ground his teeth and muttered an impatient, "No."

"Don't be so stiff," Kakashi crooned lightly.

Naruto simply glared daggers at the man. Kakashi sighed with exasperation, as if Naruto's attitude was thoroughly exhausting him. "Fine," he huffed. "You're in the hands of the Uchiha."

"But _where_?" Naruto pressed irritably.

"You hardly need to know _that_," Kakashi responded. "I would explain things further, but I don't know exactly what your dear aunt Karin has already covered."

"What have you done with her?!" Naruto shouted immediately.

"Tut tut," Kakashi chided as he waved a disapproving finger at Naruto. "I've told you; a bad temper won't do you any good here." Kaito was visibly tenser, if that was even possible. "I've done nothing with your aunt," Kakashi reassured. "She's useless, much unlike your friend over here." Kakashi gestured to Akemi. Naruto followed Kakashi's gesture, but Akemi's face was bent downward and facing out of sight. She was eerily unresponsive. "Much unlike your other friend, Sasuke, too," Kakashi added.

Naruto's temper flared. "Where is he?!" he demanded hotly.

"In some other cell somewhere else," Kakashi said dismissively. "Last time I heard, he was still out cold. He's quite fine though, in no worse shape than you. There's no need to get so dramatic."

"What do you want with Sasuke?!" Naruto snapped.

"Not much, really," Kakashi admitted, shrugging nonchalantly. "What I want with you is much more important, don't you think?" he added.

Tempted, Naruto asked, "And what's that?"

"Eh, many things," Kakashi replied airily. "I almost lost you though, and that would've been annoying," he added, eyes narrowing. "Thankfully, we've got Akemi for that." Kakashi turned his creepy gaze to the other cell. Akemi shuddered when she felt it land on her. She didn't offer any further response though. She had learned how to act around this man long ago.

"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned.

"She's kept a decent eye on you, I suppose. Let's get to the important things though," Kakashi said, turning back to Naruto, "like your childhood."

Naruto turned away and grimaced imperceptibly. "I'd rather not," he mumbled quietly.

"Good!" Kakashi said delightedly with a sigh of relief. "It's dreary, and I don't care to talk about it. Well, then, on to the present it is." Kakashi gestured to someone beyond Kaito. Then, Naruto heard a set of crisp and clear footsteps paired with what sounded to be feet being dragged across the floor. When they came into sight, Naruto could see the form of a woman being dragged. She was dropped in the middle of the hall, and the man dragging her stepped back to stand beside Kaito. "Tsunade," Kakashi said simply, though his tone was clearly demanding.

Naruto's eyes widened. Tsunade? He heard a gasp and looked to see Akemi's face in utter distraught. For the first time since Kakashi had begun speaking, Akemi moved. She scurried up to the cell bars with tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

"She tried to kill me!" Naruto shouted at Akemi, the shock causing him to unintentionally raise his voice. Akemi paid him no attention though. She reached a shaky hand through the bars and touched Tsunade's arm gently. Tsunade was still hunched over herself, but she leaned into the touch and began whispering. Kakashi motioned at Kaito, who moved over to Akemi's door to let himself in.

"Since when have we been allowed to do that?" Kakashi asked Akemi coldly.

Akemi shrank back into her cell quickly. Her eyes darted from Kakashi to Kaito, who was now entering her cell. She lifted her arms in defense against the man, but he pulled her up by one arm and easily slapped the other away. Then, he backhanded her hard across the face and dropped her back down to the ground. His expression stayed impassive the entire time. Once she was sat back on the ground, Akemi drew her knees back up to her chest and hugged them tightly. She stared at Tsunade's form, which had yet to move. There was a sick gleam in Kakashi's eye that made Naruto furious to the point of almost being sick. Angry as he was though, he couldn't speak. He was still in shock, and he was also very confused.

Kakashi turned his attention back to Naruto. "Tsunade, actually, didn't try to kill you. She tried to save you," he informed. Naruto's brows furrowed with even more shock and confusion. "I gave her the order to kill you, but..." Kakashi trailed off and huffed unhappily. "Actually, Tsunade, tell him yourself," he commanded. "The whole thing rather annoys me to recite." Kakashi pressed his lips into a thin, displeased line after waiting a moment and realizing that Tsunade wasn't heeding his demands quickly enough. "Otouto," he said shortly, motioning to the man who had dragged her in. Otouto moved to Tsunade and grabbed her hair, pulling her up into a sitting position and forcing her to look at Kakashi. "I said, speak," Kakashi informed her politely, "or else I will feel the need to punish someone." He didn't say who, but Kakashi's eyes flitted threateningly over toward Akemi, expressing the thought wordlessly.

When Otouto let go of Tsunade's hair, she did not dare fall back down completely. She still slumped a little bit though, and Naruto could see that she was extremely lethargic. She took in a few steadying breaths, forcing herself to stay sitting upright and turn to speak with Naruto. "I… I tried to t-tell him that you c-could be important," she began quietly with a weak, shaky voice, "but he… he didn't c-care. He wanted you d-dead. I tried to carry out his wishes. F-Fugaku's, I mean. He w-wanted…" She paused when she felt Kakashi's deadly glare burn into her at the mention of Fugaku. She swallowed weakly. "I-I insisted on k-keeping you alive. I really d-did… but he w-wouldn't budge."

Out of energy, Tsunade slumped further forward. She tried to support her weight with her hands to keep from falling back to the ground entirely and muttered a quiet apology to Kakashi. Quiet as it was, Naruto could still hear the disdain in her voice. Even he could tell that this woman would never forfeit her pride to truly apologize to this wicked man.

Kakashi rolled his eyes at the display but chose to ignore Tsunade for the moment. "Yes, I wanted you dead," he said to Naruto. "Fugaku had his own plans for the future. Had they worked out, I would have respected him more. Despite his plans with you though, _I_ wanted you dead."

"What plans?" Naruto asked, managing to climb out of his shell of shock to speak.

"Simple ones, really," Kakashi said. "He simply wanted you to do what you naturally do, meaning to see things. You were young and the best candidate for the job, so he chose you two to be the sole survivors of your clan. Everyone else could, and did, die. Fugaku was a fool though, I thought."

"Then, why did you let me live for so long after he died?" Naruto asked defiantly.

"It wasn't my choice," Kakashi said coolly. "Itachi wouldn't let anyone touch you."

"So Itachi _was_ head of the clan?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, and he was making it very hard for me to execute _my_ plans," Kakashi replied. "Of course, I couldn't do anything about that though. He was the rightful heir. The clan couldn't see that my direction was the better one at the time. After Itachi fled though, my time finally came," he said reverently, clearly very proud of whatever direction it was that he had.

"But it's been two years since Itachi left, and I'm still alive," Naruto pointed out.

"Yes, and only by luck," Kakashi retorted. "He took good measure to hide you and Sasuke from me." Naruto's chest tightened. It was not because of the information about Itachi though. He and Karin had already deduced as much. It was because of the mention of Sasuke. Where was Sasuke? "I couldn't act," Kakashi went on, "because I wasn't head of the clan. I'm not even an Uchiha. It was one hell of a feat to claim the position. With Itachi a traitor and Sasuke hidden though, I was eventually chosen. So I sought you immediately, and I intended to kill you. Tsunade, however, got in my way. Didn't you?" he prompted Tsunade, directing her to speak again.

"Y-Yes," she choked out quietly.

"Y-Yes," Kakashi mocked, "you did. You see, Naruto, Akemi and Tsunade had grown close without my knowledge." Naruto saw Akemi flinch, but she didn't dare do anything more. "They became quite good friends. Apparently, Tsunade couldn't bring herself to kill you. I suppose you reminded her too much of Akemi. Then, as I'm sure you already know, she burned down your apartment. If you had no home to go to, then we couldn't know where to look for you, could we? Of course, that plan failed. Akemi can track you well enough from here," Kakashi explained.

"So this is all about me?" Naruto asked. Again, he and Karin had deduced as much. He needed to hear it from Kakashi though. He needed to know. Had he brought this upon Sasuke? Was this all his fault?

"Yes," Kakashi confirmed. "The clan doesn't want Sasuke back. His father made it plain and clear that Sasuke was never to be in contact with clan members. They comply because they are a respectful bunch, even after Fugaku's death."

"Tsunade said that you wanted to obtain Sasuke," Naruto pointed out. "Is that wrong?"

"I didn't say that _I_ didn't want him back. _I_ am head of the clan. I can do as I please. Sasuke will not join the clan but he _will_ do my bidding," Kakashi replied.

"And what bidding is that?" Naruto asked crossly, angry that he had led Sasuke back to such a wretched fate. He had actually thought that he was _saving_ Sasuke all of their lives. Really, he was just dragging him back to hell.

"Whatever I choose it to be," Kakashi answered. "He is a child of assassins. He will be trained as one, and he will work as one."

Naruto felt a wave of overwhelming hate wash over him. "How do respectful people like the Uchiha come to elect a man as sick as you to govern them?"

Kakashi laughed, and it was such a genuine laugh that it made Naruto's stomach turn. How could anyone be so genuinely amused in such a sick situation? "When you bring back the clan's greatest traitor, you can be convincing," Kakashi said. Naruto simply stared at Kakashi in confusion. "Itachi, of course," Kakashi supplied.

"You found Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I did," Kakashi confirmed smugly.

"And is he to do your bidding too?" Naruto asked curtly.

Kakashi scoffed, a look of disgust marring his features. "Please," he spat. "Itachi is only here as… leverage."

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

"It means whatever I want it to mean," Kakashi said evenly, "but enough of this. I'm bored. Tsunade has some judgment to be passed. So what do you think, Naruto? Should she be spared?" he asked, amusement playing in his voice.

"Of course!" Naruto exclaimed immediately.

Kakashi chuckled devilishly. "Well, I think we should leave the final decision up to her faithful Akemi," he suggested, turning to regard the girl. "What do you think, Akemi?" Tsunade's attitude took a drastic fall and she began to shake with sobs, fully understanding the game that Kakashi was playing. "Should she be spared?" Kakashi asked Akemi, ignoring Tsunade completely.

Akemi lifted her face but looked resolutely at the ground. She choked out in a shaky whisper, "N-No."

"What?!" Naruto exclaimed, completely bewildered. "Akemi! What the fuck are you saying?!"

Kakashi chuckled again. "Not so faithful, it seems. What should we do with her then, Akemi?" he continued. She shut her eyes, and shook her head in protest. "Are you defying me?" Kakashi asked sharply. Akemi shook her head more quickly but kept her eyes closed. "Then, answer me!" Kakashi barked at her, and she jumped. She sucked in a few ragged breaths and began to cry earnestly. "Should we kill her?" Kakashi offered almost sweetly, regaining his composure completely.

"Y—" Akemi's voice broke with a sob. "Y-Yes," she choked out. Immediately upon uttering the word, she pushed her face into her knees and sobbed harder. She had no choice though. It was either agree or be punished. Naruto felt tears dripping down his own cheeks as he watched Akemi suffering so far out of the reach of his comfort.

"I think you ought to do it yourself then," Kakashi said loudly, "if you're so certain she should be killed. I don't want that innocent blood on Otouto's hands." Kakashi eyes were practically sparkling with joy.

Akemi snapped her head up and began shaking her head violently. "N-No!" she exclaimed. "No! Please!" she pleaded.

"I said, do not defy me," Kakashi said impatiently, nodding to Kaito.

Kaito walked over to Akemi and pulled her up to backhand her across the face again. He, then, dragged her out of her cell and dropped her beside Tsunade. Otouto held out a knife for her to use, but she only stared at it with fear.

Tsunade grabbed Akemi's wrist tightly and commanded her quietly, "Take it."

"No!" Akemi sobbed. "I'll suffer a thousand punishments before I do!"

Reacting to a nod from Kakashi, Otouto shifted behind Akemi, pushed her forward to better expose her back, and left a horizontal gash across her shoulders. She screamed in pain and shrunk away from the man into Tsunade's lap as blood began seeping through her shirt. Naruto gasped in horror.

"Take it!" Tsunade demanded loudly, gripping Akemi's arms and attempting to lift the girl from her lap with all the strength she had left in her bones.

"No!" Akemi wailed fighting to stay in Tsunade's lap. Otouto slashed her again across her shoulders, but her scream was quieter this time.

"Take it!" Tsunade shouted, jerking Akemi up harshly. She grabbed Akemi's wrist and flung her hand out to the knife, holding it there firmly when the blond tried to pull away. "Please, Akemi!" Tsunade said desperately. "Please! Take it!"

Akemi contemplated it for a moment longer before taking the knife from Otouto with a trembling hand. Tsunade forcefully situated them so that they were facing each other more easily. She took the hand holding the knife in both of her own and placed the tip over her heart. Akemi tried to resist weakly, but Tsunade's eyes grew harsh.

"Stop," she commanded, and Akemi complied. "Just do it," she said softly. Akemi shook her head. "Do it or I'll do it for you," Tsunade threatened. Akemi sucked in a few steadying gasps of air. "Right into the heart. Quick and easy," Tsunade directed as Akemi reigned in her relentless sobs. "You're a strong girl. Get it done," Tsunade added. After a few long moments Akemi had managed to stop her tears and was gazing into Tsunade's eyes. As all of her strength was spent, Tsunade loosened her grip on Akemi and smiled encouragingly. "You can d-do it," she whispered weakly. "Y-You must... f-for you… f-for N-Naruto. D-Do it."

They spent another long moment just staring at each other, having a silent conversation with their eyes. Suddenly, Akemi wrenched her hand from Tsunade's grip and leapt at Kakashi. Tsunade moved to lunge and stop her, as did both Otouto and Kaito, but before anyone could move more than an inch, Kakashi had already snatched the offending wrist in mid air. He stood looming over Akemi, staring down at her with cold eyes and holding her wrist so tightly that she cried out in pain.

"That is unacceptable," he said to her hotly, "and I will not have it."

He ripped the knife from Akemi's hand and shoved her down roughly. She held her wrist tenderly as he stepped over her. He held Tsunade's head back by her hair and placed the knife flush against her exposed throat, looking at Akemi with desolate eyes. Akemi clawed desperately through his legs at Tsunade's clothes, screaming madly, and Tsunade reached out and held her hand.

Without even so much as a flinch, Kakashi snatched Tsunade's life away. He threw the knife down to the floor angrily and watched as Kaito dragged Akemi back into her cell with difficulty, as she was struggling to get back to Tsunade. He threw her down on her stomach, even though she fought against him frantically. He sat down on the small of her back and slashed three more long gashes across her shoulder blades before standing up and retreating to stand beside her door. She just lay there though, shaking on the floor.

Kakashi took his seat again, leaving Tsunade to lie where she was struck down. He huffed unhappily. "Let me explain one more thing, Naruto," he began. "You are alive right now because I want you to be. I came upon some information that led me to believe that you could be an asset. For Fugaku, you needed to be clueless. For me, you don't. I knew his pathetic attempt at brainwashing would wear off." Kakashi paused, awaiting some form of recognition. "Do you understand what I'm talking about?" he asked. Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away from Tsunade's body though. His mouth was dry, and he was desperately fighting the urge to throw up. He could not believe that he had seen murder just a few feet away from where he sat. "You should know to speak when spoken to by now," Kakashi said, nodding sharply to Otouto. Naruto didn't see the action though, nor did he see Otouto entering his already unlocked cell. Just as he was looking one direction to see what was happening, he felt a fist painfully forcing his face back into the other. He gasped at the sensation. "I said, do you understand what I'm talking about?" Kakashi repeated slowly.

"Y-Yes," Naruto panted. "Kazuhito."

"Good," Kakashi said. Otouto retreated back to the door of Naruto's cell. "I'm not feeling patient, so keep up. As I was saying, I knew that it wouldn't last forever. I don't care how you make it happen, but I want you to see things for me. That's what you're _for_. So, when I say 'seek', you will use your gift to see whatever I want. If you do not, you will be punished." Kakashi's voice was plain, as this was old news for him. "Now, what I want to know is where a certain man named Orochimaru is." Kakashi nodded at Otouto who produced a picture from his pocket and moved over to hold in front of Naruto. "Let us give you a demonstration," Kakashi suggested. He looked to regard Akemi, who still hadn't gotten up from her position on the ground. "Akemi, do not disappoint me," he said simply. She sat herself up and forced herself to look at the picture that Otouto had passed to Kaito to show her. Once she was done studying the picture, she shared a heavy gaze with Kakashi. "Seek," he commanded flatly after just a short moment.

She closed her eyes, and her lips began to tremble immediately. "I-I can't f-focus after th-that," she said quietly.

"Shame," Kakashi said plainly. "I'm disappointed." He nodded to Kaito, who planted yet another slash into her back. She cried out in pain but did not move.

Kakashi, then, looked at Naruto. "Do you understand the process?" he asked coldly. Naruto nodded slowly. "Then, seek," Kakashi demanded.

"B-But I can't," Naruto protested. "I don't know how."

"Shame," Kakashi said just as plainly as before. "I am, again, disappointed." He nodded to Otouto.

Naruto wasn't sure what to expect. Akemi's punishment had evolved from slaps to cuts. Was he about to be cut too? Was there some sort of sick order as to what punishments coincided with what offenses? He had no clue, but he wasn't looking forward to finding out.

"Sir, I am without my knife. Will a beating suffice?" Otouto asked, stopping just short of Naruto, realizing his missing weapon.

Kakashi scoffed. "No, it will not do. If we give them any lenience, they will never learn," he said sternly. He retrieved the knife from beside Tsunade and handed it to Otouto in between the bars. Naruto began to panic when Otouto advanced on him again. Otouto grabbed Naruto's hair and pulled his head back. Naruto thrashed violently and tried to kick at Otouto's legs, but Otouto simply stood on his knee caps, causing him to howl in pain. Otouto lifted his knife to Naruto's face and slowly cut a thin, whisker-like line just like Akemi's into both of his cheeks. Naruto dared not move for fear that it would only make the cuts worse. That didn't stop him from crying out though

"We are done for the day. Clean them," Kakashi ordered. "Be aware, Naruto, that I do not like to be disappointed," he added.

Otouto fished a box from his pocket. He pulled out a small bottle and squeezed some clear liquid onto Naruto's cheeks that stung his fresh cuts strongly. Otouto wiped his cheeks clean of both blood and cleanser before covering the cuts with gauze, which he taped down. When Otouto moved out of the way, Naruto shot Kakashi a hateful yet confused glare.

"We can't have you getting infections and dying on us, can we?" Kakashi explained lightly.

Naruto looked into Akemi's cell to see Kaito savagely ripping off her shirt. She still lay flat on her stomach though. Otouto was, clearly, much gentler than Kaito, even if he did just cut into Naruto's cheeks. Kaito roughly cleaned Akemi's back off and bandaged it up in a sloppy fashion. When he was finished, he simply stood towering over her. Naruto could see his dark intentions practically seeping from his skin.

Kakashi sighed. "Must we do this today, Kaito?" The question wasn't meant to be answered though. He gave Naruto a thoughtful gaze. "Perhaps it's best," he conceded. A sinister look came into his eyes. "Naruto _should_ see the full extent of how things work, shouldn't he? Plus, she tried to kill me." With a flick of his wrist, Kakashi bade Kaito to carry on as he wished. "Don't turn off the lights when you're done, and leave her a new shirt," Kakashi added before ascending up the stairs. Otouto moved to leave after him but was stopped when Kakashi called over his shoulder, "Bring the body!"

Naruto stared into Akemi's cell passed Otouto's movements of heaving Tsunade onto his shoulder. What exactly was Kaito planning to do? Naruto caught Akemi's eyes, and they were apologetic before she closed them. She seemed to slip into a whole other state of being then. She was not the kind, gentle soul from the darkness. She was not the reserved, fearful girl who spoke to Kakashi. She was not the reluctant, defensive woman who sat before Tsunade. Now, she was just a thoughtless, mindless being, one who simply closed her eyes and did as she was commanded.

And when she was commanded to remove her pants, Naruto sucked in a furious and disbelieving breath. Kaito _wouldn't_!


	14. Chapter 14: Abduction Part II

**A/N:** I'm really starting to like this story all over again. I mean, I've been off it lately. I've just been all over all sorts of other things. I came back and focused a bit though, and now I'm in love again xD I can't wait to get other chapters out. I'm pumped about this. This is gonna be good. Anyway, sorry for taking a billion years to update. I don't get complaints about it taking too long and I don't really get anyone telling me to update like I do on MM, so it's easy for me to get lazy and pawn it off to the side for a while.

Oh, btw, I'm kind of going super unbeta'd lately. Don't know why. Just know that my past couple chapters have been unbeta'd and the rest will probably be that way too. Why? I don't know.

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Abduction Part II**

A terrible silence filled the air, broken only by the crisp sound of Kaito's retreating footsteps. Naruto stared pointedly down at the ground in between his legs, trying desperately to regain control over himself. His mental frame was lost somewhere in between furious and flushed. He wasn't sure what he should say or if he could even speak to begin with. Naturally, expressing any type of rational reaction was off the board. Despite all of the things that he was feeling, he couldn't make himself react at all—rationally or not. Was it even possible to feel so many awful things all at the same time?

"Breathe," Akemi directed quietly.

Naruto didn't look up at her, and he didn't breathe. Instead, he tensed up even more at the sound of her voice. He was so tense, in fact, that he hadn't realized that he had been unintentionally straining his wrists against his binds, causing his hands to turn blue from the lack of circulation. Relaxing was a joke at this point, but he was able to force out a long breath. Then, he was able to actually relax, at least, his arms. He found, however, that after releasing that first breath, he couldn't stop the ones after from coming out in short, panicked huffs. When he felt a prickling sensation spreading throughout his hands as the blood returned to them quickly, he chose to focus on it in hopes that it would be a good enough distraction to calm himself down. Yes, he felt it getting a bit better. As long as Akemi didn't speak to him again, at least not for a while, then he would be just—

"_Breathe_," Akemi repeated worriedly.

And just like that, Naruto was filled with rage. How could she be speaking to him so goddamn calmly after what had just happened?! What he had just been forced to witness was absolutely _not_ something that could be forgotten so easily; and, yet, she was brushing it aside as if it were completely meaningless and telling him to just _breathe_! As if he could just relax, take a few deep breaths, and be over it!

"Naruto—"

"WHAT?!" he shouted angrily, still refusing to lift his seething eyes from the ground and to Akemi's face.

He could hear Akemi take in a few breaths, probably to keep herself from crying. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wish that you hadn't had to see that."

"Me too," Naruto bit out. After a few moments of listening to Akemi try to breathe normally herself, the anger passed. Naruto realized that it was better directed at Kaito or Kakashi anyway. "I'm sorry," he eventually said. "I just…" He wanted to say something meaningful there, but he couldn't find the words. Instead, he just let his voice trail off.

"They'll come back," Akemi said, ready to be rid of that disturbing topic. "They'll repeat that process of asking us to seek things. When we don't, they're gonna punish us."

"Will they do"—Naruto paused—"_that_ again?" he asked.

Akemi sighed. She was really, _really_ ready to be rid of that topic. "Probably not," she answered. "I don't think Kaito will be back for a while, and he's the only one who ever does... _that_. He and Otouto travel with Kakashi alone though, so other people will come down to question us. They come in pairs, but I suppose they'll start coming in fours now that you're here too." Naruto mustered up the courage to lift his eyes, but he couldn't return Akemi's gaze just yet.

"You'll have to teach me how to see what they want," he pointed out, looking at the area all around her but not right at her. "—so that I can avoid, y'know, having more scars slashed into my face," he added.

After a few moments of waiting for her response in silence, Naruto was finally able to look into Akemi's eyes again. Thankfully, he didn't feel angry this time. They simply stared at each other quietly for a few long moments while Akemi thought on that option carefully.

"We have something easier and much more vital to do," she eventually decided.

"Which is?" Naruto prompted.

"Communication," Akemi answered simply. Naruto waited a few moments for her to elaborate, but she added nothing more. She just continued to stare with that thoughtful look on her face.

"Okay," he said warily. After a few more moments of Akemi just staring, apparently lost in thought, she spoke again.

"You and I never got the chance to figure it out, but we're gonna need it here," she began. "We're gonna have to be able to talk without speaking." Naruto nodded in agreement. "We can communicate through visions, images, thoughts, and feelings. As we get older and grow closer, it'll become more natural. After all, it's not like you need our kind of gift to be able to tell what the person closest to you is feeling or thinking, right?"

"Right," Naruto agreed. Even though he knew it was unnecessary, he automatically added, "Sasuke can do it just fine, and he's not psychic at all." It just felt like the right thing to say. Talking about Sasuke was so natural. Luckily, it ended up serving a purpose a this time, a purpose that didn't involve simply depressing him.

"Perfect," Akemi said, pleased. "I don't know what he looks like, and Sasuke will probably be the best thing to start with because he's so familiar to you. Images are the easiest to start with, but visions aren't all that much harder. Thoughts and feelings are more difficult to get across. I'm sure you have a lot of images of Sasuke floating around in your head. If you—"

"I get the concept," Naruto interjected. There was no point in listening to her explain things that Karin had already touched on. "I've, more or less, learned already." Naruto didn't explain any further though, and Akemi didn't ask.

"So try to send me an image of Sasuke," she suggested.

A silence fell over them, in which Akemi watched Naruto intently. As soon as he closed his eyes, Akemi gasped and her eyes started darting around the room, as if trying to get a glimpse of something elusive. Then, her gaze suddenly fixed on a spot inside Naruto's cell just beside him, looking at something that wasn't quite there. After just a few short moments, they both snapped out of their trance-like states in unison.

"Woah," Akemi said, clearly shocked, as she blinked her eyes back into focus.

Naruto smiled uncertainly. "Did I do good?" he asked.

"Yeah," Akemi assured, caught somewhere between excited and confused. "It was way better than what I imagined. Hell, it was damn near perfect!" She huffed contentedly. "Looks like we don't have to try as hard as I thought we would." Her smile faltered, though, as she thought back on what she had just seen. "You sent me my own visions," she pointed out, her brows furrowing and her face growing confused again.

"Yeah, well, I've never had my own vision of Sasuke," Naruto admitted.

"I didn't ask for visions," Akemi said. "I asked for images."

"Um... sorry?" Naruto offered uncertainly.

"Uh, no! Well, it's fine. You sent me both, so it's fine," Akemi assured. "I just didn't expect you to be able to handle a vision right away. I'm just shocked is all."

"Well, it was pretty easy for me to send you my favorite images of Sasuke, but then that vision just popped up in my mind," Naruto explained, "so I guess I sent it too."

"I see," Akemi said quietly, putting things together in her head. "Apparently, I've been seeing Sasuke for a long time then."

"Really?" Naruto asked, perking up a bit. If he wasn't 100 percent interested before, he was now.

"Well, yeah. I didn't know I was seeing him though," Akemi explained. "I just thought he would be another person that I'd meet here. I always thought that those visions were about me, but now I see that they were actually all about you. It's always been you and Sasuke, never me." There was a short pause, in which Akemi seemed to ponder something deeply. "You and Sasuke… you're connected," she eventually said, looking past Naruto in thought.

"Of course we are," Naruto replied easily.

"No," Akemi said firmly, focusing her eyes on Naruto again. "I mean, seriously connected, Naruto. Your fates are directly intertwined. You can't make a move without affecting each other. I'm talking about a deep connection here. Every breath you take is connected to him."

Naruto felt nothing but understanding of these words. He had always known that he was connected to Sasuke. That was just as it should be. Karin had pretty much led him to deduce that very same thing anyway. He didn't want to say that out loud, though, because he wasn't sure how touchy the subject of Karin would be for Akemi. After all, it had been so long since Akemi had seen her mother.

"Have you even seen my visions?" Akemi asked almost angrily, apparently displeased with Naruto's reaction.

"Of course," Naruto said somewhat defensively, an automatic reaction to her tone of voice.

"Then you should have seen him betraying you," Akemi said impatiently.

"What?" Naruto asked, suddenly very confused.

"…I'd rather die… I'll never be part of this… I'll kill you if it kills me… I'm nothing like you…" Akemi repeated the words emphatically. "Really, Naruto? What do you think all that means?"

"Your visions were really broken, y'know," Naruto said defensively. "I sent back all that I got from you. It was really chopped up and confusing!"

"Even if that was all there was to it, it would still be pretty obvious," Akemi said with the air of lecturing a child.

"It could mean a lot of things," Naruto insisted. "It would be even more open to interpretation if I had gotten the whole thing in full too."

"He betrays you!" Akemi exclaimed.

"How would you know?" Naruto retorted.

"It's _my_ vision!" Akemi said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, well, I only got to see a small part of it," Naruto pointed out. "Why don't you let me see the whole thing so that I can decide what it means for myself?"

"Naruto, it's obvious that he—"

"Sasuke wouldn't betray me," Naruto interjected confidently. "You're wrong. He's obviously saying those things to someone else."

Akemi looked at Naruto intensely for a few moments, and then she began to pity him. She had once been in that same kind of denial too. When everything was hopeless, she had kept faith in people who had probably never even thought of her ever again. Her life had been truly hopeless; and, yet, she had hoped. She had clung to denial like it was life itself. Even though she didn't respond right away, her feelings were evident in her eyes; and Naruto could read them easily.

"Tell me how to see then," he demanded. "Let me decide for myself what all these visions of the future mean."

Akemi paused for a moment. "No," she said decidedly, "I won't."

"What?" Naruto asked, feeling quite peeved. She had contemplated it so deeply earlier just to say _no_?

"We can't give them the visions that they want no matter what, Naruto," Akemi replied seriously. Naruto opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off. "You're thinking that you'll pretend you can't seek, right? You'll just act like you still haven't figured it out when you have, but that won't work. They'll break you until you're too weak to deny them, until you give in and seek whatever they want just to escape the pain." Akemi sighed. "In the end, you being able to see at will is just gonna get you killed."

"Why do you say that?" Naruto asked. "If they need me to see things, why would they kill me?"

"If I tell you that, it'll probably just get you killed," Akemi replied.

Naruto huffed impatiently. "And how do you rationalize that?" he asked hotly.

Akemi sighed, feeling frustrated. "Do you even know how our gift works, Naruto?" she asked.

"I'm not clueless," Naruto replied. "What we see naturally is our own future and the future of those closest to us."

"And the rest?" Akemi asked.

"The rest is just... whatever we want," Naruto answered.

Akemi just stared at him for a few moments. Seemed like a bad habit of hers. "We are fortunate to be able to dip our hands into fate like we do," she eventually began. "We are given the privilege to see any and every thing that we wish. Doesn't that sound enthralling? Doesn't it sound powerful?" She paused, the air around her growing much more intense. "What makes you think someone would hesitate to kill for that sort of thing? What makes you think that you are so special that you can't be manipulated into seeing whatever they want?"

"I did say that I couldn't," Naruto defended.

"But isn't that what you were thinking?" Akemi asked. "Weren't you telling yourself that you could defy them, that you would just say no if you didn't want to see what they asked you to see?" Akemi paused for a short moment, coming back to her normal self. "If you could see freely, Naruto, imagine what you would see," she prompted.

"Sasuke," Naruto said immediately.

"Why?" Akemi asked.

"Because... I love him," Naruto answered softly.

Akemi smiled sadly at him. "It's because your heart is so pure that you won't survive down here," she said. "Given the power to see anything, you would simply watch your lover's back. That attitude alone is why you are destined for bigger things, Naruto. If they ever see the true potential inside of you, you'll never be able to escape the pursuers."

"I don't see what that has to do with you teaching me to see," Naruto said bluntly.

Akemi rolled her eyes. "I can't teach you to see because I don't want them to have the information that they're seeking, and you can't hide it from them if you have it," she said. "If it's in your head, they'll get it out of you no matter what. Like I said before, they'll beat you until your will is lost."

"Is your will power so superior to mine?" Naruto asked irritably.

"Yes!" Akemi answered snappishly. She took a moment to calm down. "I've had a lot of practice with beatings, Naruto. It's not just that, but I know how to censor myself and edit what I've seen. Only I have the information in my head to know what can and cannot be said." When Naruto didn't look convinced in the least, she added, "Do you not understand that I'm trying to _spare_ you here?"

"They're gonna try to beat it out of me whether I'm actually able to see anything or not," Naruto pointed out.

"Yeah, they will," Akemi agreed coolly. "They're gonna treat us like dirt. They're gonna cut, bruise, and scar us, and it's all gonna hurt. They're gonna torture us. Punishment will be your incentive to figure out how to see at will, otherwise it'll just be _my_ incentive to teach you. If you don't know what you're doing, they'll beat you to motivate you to figure it out. If you do know what you're doing, they'll beat you to give them what they want. If you're truly ignorant though, then there's nothing to beat out of you. Sure, they'll keep trying anyway, but there's no chance of success. That's what matters." She looked away into space, as if recalling lost thoughts. "They won't like what I've already seen, Naruto," she began softly. "They won't like what I _will _see, what _we_ _both could_ see. The less visions that they have to beat out of us, the better." She sighed heavily. "Ignorance will be your best friend down here. In the end, you being able to see will be your enemy."

"You still haven't told me how?" Naruto asked quietly, as the mood had grown awfully serious again. He didn't want to revert into another argument.

"I told you already. If I tell you, it'll probably just get you killed," Akemi replied absently.

"Why though?" Naruto asked.

"All that I'll tell you is that you can't get in the way of their plans for Sasuke," Akemi offered, still looking a bit distant. "If you can see freely, you will."

Naruto raised an inquisitive brow. "I thought that the plans for me were more important," he said.

"That's what Kakashi wants you to think," Akemi said back, finally refocusing on Naruto again, "but I know otherwise."

"How? Explain it to me," Naruto pleaded, "because I'm confused."

"If the things I know get into your head, they'll know," Akemi began. "They can tell. They'll see, and they'll get it out of you. If you think you can resist, then you're wrong. Withholding information will get you a punishment far worse than what you're already gonna have to face. It'll be worse than a few scars on your cheeks or being slapped around. Like I said before, the less that they have to beat out of us, the better." She paused for a moment before looking guilty and apologetic. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but you'll have to…" She trailed off momentarily to grimace at the thought. "You'll have to endure some punishments. It's just that they can't know. Your life is too important to me," she finished softly. She had to look away as she felt a wave of guilt bring tears to her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Naruto sighed. "It's okay." Akemi looked up at him bemusedly. "I understand," he assured, attempting to smile reassuringly at her. "You're only trying to protect me. How could I argue with that?" Akemi was able to smile slightly at that.

A comfortable silence fell between them, in which Akemi thought over all the visions that she could remember having about Sasuke and how they all pointed to him betraying Naruto. She recounted one specific vision in which Sasuke whispered quietly, "If we die, we die together"; and it sent shivers down her spine. What would normally sound sweet and loving now sounded so ominous and threatening to her. Naruto, thinking over visions as well, was drawn to one vision in particular. He was eventually tempted to ask about it, since Akemi had sent it to him to begin with.

"Akemi?" he prompted quietly, still looking vacantly down at the ground.

"Yes," Akemi answered, giving Naruto her full attention.

"About that vision that I have of you," Naruto began. Akemi immediately understood. "Do you think that they'll split us up?" he asked. "I don't… I don't want that at all, but your eyes were so… so…"

Akemi looked away and off into space again. "Desperate," she finished softly.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "I can only assume that it's because they're gonna take me away from you."

"They won't," Akemi assured. "They're not gonna split us up again. They know we're more useful together. They'll want to torture us mentally into seeking things by making us watch each other be punished. Plus, Kakashi isn't stupid. He knows we'll work best in close quarters. He'll be expecting us to work out our communication and to grow a closer bond. He thinks it'll help him out in the end. He doesn't think that we have to will power to resist him, but we do. Anyway, that vision has passed, so don't worry about it."

"What happened?" Naruto asked. "How did it pass?"

Akemi sighed. She silently thought back on the past for a short while before speaking. "When I had first gotten here, I would have a lot of visions about a boy," she began. "He was always so scared when I would see him, and I could tell that he was being tortured too. I could never forget his face. I thought that I had actually seen him a couple of times, but I was never sure. Once Kakashi came to power, they brought him in and put him right where you are now. I recognized him immediately, though he was much older by then and so was I.

"He was so kind to me," Akemi went on fondly. "He was the closest thing to a friend that I had ever had, except for you, of course; but you had already been gone for years by then. He told me all sorts of wonderful things about our clan, things I would have never known without him. He even knew about our parents because he grew up with them. He was very comforting to me. At that time, they weren't punishing me yet and they wanted nothing from him, so we had some semblance of peace. We just sat here for god knows how long talking to each other in the dark. The only light we ever saw was when they came to feed us. He had become my beacon of light though, never letting me get too afraid. He was the closest thing I had to family. He was an Uzumaki too, and I loved him."

"They took him from me though," she continued in a much softer, more bleak tone. "Maybe it was only a few long weeks or a few shorts months before your arrival when that happened. I don't really know. Your sense of time gets away from you when you're down here for so long. They told us that his father had outlived his usefulness, so they no longer needed him anymore. I was partly relieved that he wouldn't be suffering with me anymore, but I was also scared because I didn't know if they would set him free or kill him... and because I would be alone again." She paused for a short while, dealing with the emotions swimming in her chest.

"What you saw was... what I looked like when they took him away from me. That look in my eyes, it was because I was delusional enough to think that maybe he would actually come back for me, to save me. I don't ever have visions of myself, but I'd actually had a vision of that very moment when he was taken years before I had ever even met him. I hadn't realized that vision was even in my head after so long. When he was walking away, I knew that I must have looked desperate, because I _was_ desperate. I must have looked terrified, because I _was_ terrified. I must have looked alone, because I _was_ alone. I had to ask myself where I had seen such a look in my eyes before. That vision was the only image I've ever had of myself, so it was all that I had to send to you. You had to know what I looked like." Akemi looked up to see Naruto's eyes already boring into her, completely engulfed in her story, and she smiled sadly. "They took the only precious thing that I had: Takao."

Recognition and shock sparked in Naruto's eyes. "Takao," he repeated disbelievingly. "He was—"

"I know," Akemi interrupted. "He didn't hide anything from me, Naruto. He never wanted to be head of the clan though, despite his father's wishes. He never wanted to be pitted against your mother. He never wanted to leave the clan either. He had to do as his father commanded though. He was only just a kid still. He had no choice. He didn't want to be a part of killing the clan, and he really wasn't. He was taken as collateral to ensure that his father would cooperate the whole time. He was treated just like you and I are being treated now. Eventually, they just threw him in a cell down here with me," she explained. "You don't have to tell me what a criminal he was," she added defensively, "because he was my friend."

"—the same boy that I was watching," Naruto finished quietly. Akemi tilted her head curiously. "That's what I was saying," Naruto explained. "I wasn't gonna call him a criminal. Although, before you explained all that to me, I kind of thought that he was. I was saying that he was the boy Kazuhito had me watching though. He was his son."

"You know his father?" Akemi asked.

"Ironically enough, I lived with his father," Naruto said. "That's why I was surprised."

"Oh," Akemi said, flushing a little in embarrassment and glancing away. "I always did wonder what became of his father."

"He went to prison," Naruto informed. "That's what became of him."

"What for?" Akemi asked.

Naruto swallowed thickly and looked away. "For sexual abuse against a child," he answered quietly.

Akemi gasped with disgust. "What a sick a man!" she exclaimed. "Why would anyone do that?" She belatedly took note of how uncomfortable Naruto was obviously feeling, and then she felt like an inconsiderate idiot. "Oh... uh... sorry... was... um... was he..."

Naruto looked back at her, seeing a reluctant question in her eyes. "No!" he exclaimed. "He was _not_ a father to me. I hope he rots in hell."

Akemi laughed nervously. "Uh... that's not exactly what I was getting at," she said.

Naruto looked away sheepishly. "Oh," was all he said.

Akemi cleared her throat awkwardly, feeling like her real question might be worse than the one he had assumed she was asking. "Uh... I was just... thinking that maybe he was... abusing someone that you knew... or that you were friends with," she finally managed to spit out. Naruto's eyes widened before he turned his face away even more than he already had. "I thought that maybe that was why it was so uncomfortable for you," Akemi added apologetically.

Naruto weighed his response heavily. "Yeah, you could say it was someone I know," he eventually confirmed.

Akemi paled. "Oh, man," she said quietly. "I... I'm really sorry. Was it a good friend?"

Though she couldn't see his face, Akemi could see Naruto's brows scrunching together. Maybe it was in anger or confusion or pain. In any case, he seemed really reluctant to tell her anything more. Right when she was about to insist that he didn't have to talk about it if he didn't want to, he gave her an answer.

"They were his attempts at brainwashing me," Naruto informed quietly. Akemi really paled now. She was utterly speechless. "In any case," Naruto went on, still hiding his face, "he was having me watch Takao, so I bet we were even having the same visions of him at that time. Fugaku had wanted me to forget things so that he could use me without fear that I would retaliate."

"Right," Akemi said, glad that they had stumbled back upon something that she could talk about again. "That always was Fugaku's plan with you."

"Then he died," Naruto picked up, "and Itachi came to power. He protected me, raised Sasuke, and then sent us both off to a far away university." He lifted his head to smile at Akemi, even though there was no honesty in it. "Well, then, here we are now."

"And that's my fault," Akemi admitted, looking away in shame.

Naruto snorted, finding the fact that she could even manage to put any blame on herself to be truly amusing. "And how is that?" he asked.

"I've been keeping an eye on you for them," Akemi admitted.

"What?" Naruto asked, growing more serious.

"When Kakashi came to power, that was when it was finally my turn to be utilized," Akemi began to explain. "I had already learned to master my gift by then, so I could see things easily at will. Kakashi constantly pestered me, wanting to know where you were and who you were with and all sorts of things like that. I pretended to be clueless for a while because I didn't want to tell him. I was afraid that you'd end up here with me. Even if I wanted to be reunited again, even if I had been wishing for that for years, whatever life you had outside of this place had to be a better life. I didn't want to take that away, even if I was lonely, even if I missed you, even if I was scared. I wanted you to stay out there and where you were safe. Kakashi began to punish me though. He thought that I was lying and that I really could see. Of course, he was right, but I didn't wanna tell him that.

"I didn't wanna sell you out. Eventually, it really became too much for me to handle though. My will was weak back then, so I started talking. I did moderate what I told him though. I didn't wanna be too specific because I didn't know what exactly they were gonna do with you. I had always known what Fugaku wanted, but I had no idea what this new man, Kakashi, wanted. His plans could have been different. He could have wanted to hurt you. He was so pleased with getting me to talk at all that he never really realized that I wasn't giving him the full truth, or maybe he just didn't care. You can never really tell with Kakashi. In the end, they figured things out from the little pieces that I gave them. It was me who eventually led them to you and to Sasuke. I didn't really know the gravity of what I was doing, but it was still my fault. For that, I am sorry."

Naruto scoffed, taking no time at all to decide how he felt about that confession. "Please," he said, "don't apologize to me, Akemi. If you hadn't started talking, who knows what kind of shape you'd be in now."

"Still," Akemi argued timidly, "if I was stronger..."

"Akemi," Naruto said, a warning telling her to stop before she even began.

"If I hadn't been so worried about myself..."

"Akemi," Naruto said more sternly, unwilling to listen to such a pity party.

"If I had been less self-indulgent..."

"Akemi!" Naruto said loudly.

"I could have protected you," Akemi finished, her voice beginning to tremble. "I could have—"

"Akemi!" Naruto shouted, shocking Akemi. She lifted startled eyes shimmering with tears to return his gaze. For a few intense moments, they said nothing at all. Akemi took in a few shuddering breaths as Naruto discovered a way to speak through the silence though. He opened his mouth to convey what he was thinking, but Akemi spoke before he could.

"Thank you," she whispered quietly. As those tears finally fell from her eyes, she looked down at the ground. "I needed to hear that."

Naruto was quiet for a few moments until the confusion won out. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "I didn't say anything."

"You don't have to, Naruto," Akemi replied, lifting her eyes to look at him again. "I can feel you."

Naruto tilted his head curiously to the side. "You can?" he asked.

"I can," Akemi assured. "Your heart is so untouched by selfishness or hatred or greed. Your eyes are so clear, so easy to read."

"Do you mean that we just... imprinted?" Naruto asked.

"Something like that," Akemi replied, nodding her head.

"I thought you needed touch for that," Naruto said.

"Not between anchors," Akemi corrected.

"Right," Naruto said, suddenly remembering their relationship again. "I guess I just thought that we'd need to practice that. I didn't know it could just happen. You did say that thoughts and emotions were more difficult to share than visions."

"And yet you sent me visions so easily," Akemi added, smiling at her companion.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. If he could, he would have rubbed at the back of his head. "Well, it was no big deal. Your mom taught me so much already," he admitted. Akemi's eyes glazed over, and Naruto cursed himself for bring Karin up so carelessly. "I'm sorry," he said softly. "I don't mean to open any wounds."

"It's okay," Akemi replied, shaking her head. "I don't... remember her."

"What?" Naruto asked, shocked.

"Did you?" Akemi inquired.

"My memory was modified. I didn't remember anything at all," Naruto informed.

"But can you remember now?" Akemi asked.

Naruto averted his eyes. "I... I guess," he said. "Since facing Kazuhito's demons, it's not so blank anymore... but... it's..." He trailed off. Then, he tried rewording it. "Remembering those memories is..." Again, he trailed off. "It's..." He decided that the thought just wasn't going to come out. It was hard to think, let alone speak aloud.

"Is it scary?" Akemi asked.

"No," Naruto said, shaking his head.

"Is it hard?" Akemi tried again.

Again, Naruto shook his head. "Not exactly."

"Is it—"

"It's painful," Naruto supplied quietly. "It's painful to... remember." He paused for a moment, and Akemi respected his need for a bit of silence before he could continue. "For my whole life, Sasuke has been the only one I ever talked to about my experience with Kazuhito," he eventually went on. "I could never think about that part of my life without Sasuke because it was like he protected me. Back then, it _was_ scary and difficult. I needed Sasuke to comfort me, to strengthen me.

"All I ever did was talk about it with Sasuke. We never tried to break the barrier. We never tried to see what was underneath. He just wanted me to come to terms with it, to realize that I wasn't less of a man because of what had happened to me. Truthfully, I liked it that way though. Whatever was beneath that layer that I had blocked out had nothing to do with Sasuke himself. It was a life which Sasuke didn't live in. All the years that I could remember were the years that I did spend with him, and I liked that. I liked that Sasuke was my past, my present, and my future. The doors could stay shut because it was comfortable that way.

"I had to reopen those wounds without him though. I had to remember and learn more about my past so that I could plan for the future. I had to set my fears and weaknesses aside, and I had to do it alone. Now, those barriers are gone. It's less like the past doesn't exist to me and more like I'm just ignoring it now. It's there. Everything from before Sasuke, before Kazuhito, it's all free for me to see." Naruto paused momentarily and pursed his lips, contemplating something heavily. "It's liberating, I guess." He paused again, deeply lost again in his thoughts. This time, he paused for so long that Akemi decided to venture in.

"If it's liberating, then why is it painful?" she asked.

Naruto sighed heavily. It was another short while before he could go on; but, again, Akemi respected his need for silence. "It's painful because I'd never done it without Sasuke," Naruto started again. "That fucked up part about me was something that only we shared. That piece that was locked away, the piece that I could only tolerate _because_ of Sasuke, it's lost now. You would think that the only pain left for me would be in the memories of what Kazuhito did to me. It's not like that though. Everything... all of it... hurts." Naruto seemed to really be struggling with his words by this point, or maybe it was less the words and more the emotions. Nonetheless, Akemi listened patiently as he struggled though.

"It hurts because... because it's painful for me to think about a time before Sasuke. He's my everything. He's all I've ever known. Now... I know a time before him, a life before him... a family before him. I don't want to know it though... because Sasuke... made me comfortable. Everything else isn't comfortable, not at all. It's painful... because... Sasuke is the only thing that can soothe my pain. That's how it's always been. It may seem stupid and codependent and weak to you... but I don't wanna stand on my own. I _want_ to depend on Sasuke... because if I can't depend on him... then... h-how can I s-stand at all?" Naruto finished, his voice just a notch above a whisper and beginning to tremble furiously.

"I understand," Akemi said softly. She crawled up to the front of her cell and leaned her cheek against one of the bars there, watching Naruto quietly. For a while, they just stayed quiet while Naruto composed himself again, or at least tried.

"How can you understand?" Naruto finally asked.

"Because you are my Sasuke," Akemi replied easily. At that, Naruto looked up. Akemi smiled at him, even if his eyes were filled with tears that pained her heart. "Let me ask you something, Naruto," she said. Naruto nodded. "Even if it hurts, you still _can_ remember our lives before, can't you?" Naruto nodded again. "I know you don't wanna betray your bond to Sasuke, so I'll only ask you to do this once," she assured. "When you remember those times, who do you remember? Who do you see?"

Naruto looked back down at his legs and slowly began to dive into his memories, even if every image that was not Sasuke's face pained his heart. After a while, Naruto simply said, "You."

"You can't remember mom or dad?" Akemi asked. "You can't remember anything but me?"

Naruto looked back up at her. "Well, yeah," he agreed.

"It's the same for me," Akemi said. "I don't remember anyone but you. Five years mom and dad raised us. Five years they fed us, played with us, laughed with us, protected us. Yet, five years of memories consist of only me and you. You and I... we're not so different at all. Once those memories came back to you, once Kazuhito's curse wore off, all you could see was me. No, I don't remember my mom; but for a long time, I couldn't remember anything at all either." Naruto raised his brows with intrigue.

"Like I said," Akemi continued, "you are my Sasuke. I thought that I never wanted to remember anything again until you were at my side. At that time, I was young and I was so scared. I think that the fear disabled me for a while, so I just forgot everything. After a short time, though, visions started coming to me, demanding to be seen. I was forced to recall your face, and I realized that it wasn't such a bad thing to remember you. After all, you were really all that I had to hold on to, so then you were the only thing left in my mind.

"Just like how you learned to cling to Sasuke and your memories with him—even now when you have the ability to go back to a time before him—I clung to you and our memories together. Just like Sasuke became your everything, you were mine. You and I, two souls born as one, two people connected inevitably, that's all that there was for me. That's all that there _is_. Naturally, all I could think of was you and of how I wished that you would protect me, just like how you needed Sasuke to protect you." Akemi smiled. "If you think of it that way, is it so hard to believe that I can't even remember my own mother?"

Naruto smiled back weakly. "No, I guess not," he conceded.

"So if you were worried about how I would react, it's okay," Akemi said. "You can talk about her. In fact, I would like it, since I can't remember her. I would like to know what she's like now."

"If I broke my barrier and got through to the other side, can't you?" Naruto asked. "Now that I'm here, don't you think that you could break yours too? You could remember her."

"I don't think it works that way," Akemi said sadly.

"Why not?" Naruto asked. "If I'm your comfort, can't I help?"

"Sasuke didn't break your barrier, did he?" Akemi asked. "You had to do it alone, so I think that I do too. I just haven't been able to yet. I'm not as strong as you, I guess."

"Yeah right," Naruto said, completely unconvinced. "I disagree entirely."

"Why?" Akemi asked.

"Well, for one, you can see things when I can't," Naruto pointed out. "You commanded your ability so easily while I've just been blind to it my whole life."

"That doesn't meant that I'm stronger," Akemi argued.

"Then why can you see things while I can't?" Naruto asked. "Why have you been able to master it?"

"Well, I've been here my whole life," Akemi answered. "I've had nothing better to do than have visions and keep myself entertained."

"Your whole life..." Naruto repeated airily. "That's just another reason why you're stronger than me. You've lived in this hell for so many years; and, yet, you're still so... you."

Akemi smiled weakly. "Thank you, but I did exaggerate a bit. I've been taken out of here a few times," she admitted. "While Itachi was in power, he had me, among other people, moved into a highly guarded estate. We weren't set free or anything, but at least we got beds, warm food, and baths. That was nice while it lasted. Even before that we were still treated better than we are now. Kakashi is a cruel man, but Fugaku was never like that at all. He was stern and I do believe that the Uchiha way is extremely harsh, but he wasn't a masochist. Every week we were all taken to bathe and given fresh clothes. We were fed every single day and it was rarely cold food.

"We were given blankets, even if we still had to sleep on the ground, and they were replaced when they got tattered. We were allowed to have lanterns instead of having to sit in the dark all the time. He would patrol the dungeons regularly too, because he knew that the guards could be cruel if they wanted to. Knowing that he could show up at any minute on patrol kept them all in check. Fugaku treated us like humans, even if we were his prisoners. Even me, even an Uzumaki, a person from the family that they swore to hate was treated that way. This life is all because of Kakashi."

"You don't seem to hate Fugaku at all," Naruto commented.

"Not at all," Akemi assured. "The Uchiha are severe, but they're honorable people. In their hearts, they are truly good. There are some spoiled ones, just like in anything. There some polished gems too though. Most are perfectly respectable men and women, maybe even people you could learn to enjoy, if you learned to understand their ways." Naruto said nothing. All he did was stare off into space, so Akemi eventually asked, "Do you not believe me?"

"In the case of Fugaku Uchiha, not at all," Naruto replied promptly, as if he'd just been thinking of multiple different ways to say those words. "That's because of what personal differences we have though," he added. "You and I were not subjected to the same sides of that man. As for the general picture though, I can agree. After all, I have Sasuke. I've seen that polished gem." Akemi snorted derisively, forcing Naruto to snap his eyes to her. "What? Do _you_ not believe _me_?" he asked a bit temperamentally. He couldn't help it if he was extra defensive of Sasuke though.

"In the case of Sasuke Uchiha, not at all," Akemi replied, "but we haven't been subjected to the same sides of _that_ man either."

"You haven't been subjected to any side of Sasuke," Naruto argued irritably. "You've never even met him."

"Or maybe you just haven't been subjected to the true Sasuke," Akemi retorted. "Maybe _you've_ never met him."

Naruto narrowed his eyes for a moment, but he abandoned the animosity quickly. He sighed and looked away. "Why fight over it?" he asked. "We'll just have to wait and see who he proves wrong, won't we? It's not like either of us can be sure right now."

"You're right," Akemi agreed. Another comfortable silence fell over them. After quite some time, Akemi spoke again. "Naruto?" she prompted softly.

"Yeah?" Naruto replied, looking up at her face.

"If things with Sasuke don't turn out as you hope, what will you do?" Akemi asked.

Naruto pondered that for a short while. Eventually, he said, "What will be, will be, so just let it be." He smiled fondly at his own words.

"Wise," Akemi said simply, feeling the urge to smile as well.

"Your mom said that to me," Naruto informed. "She said a lot of useful things to me." He began quoting Karin's many wise words. "Fate will show itself eventually. All we can do is wait for the moment to pass. It will always make sense in time. There isn't an explanation for everything, but there will be." He sighed a weary sigh. "All I can do is accept it, right? The gift of sight doesn't come with the gift of understanding. Karin taught me that too." He looked directly into Akemi's eyes. "I suspect that the threads of fate don't hinge on my will alone, so whatever happens with Sasuke has to happen. I guess I'll just have to be alright with it." He glanced away. "Or maybe not," he added, shrugging. "Maybe it's okay if I'm upset about it too, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens when the times comes."

Akemi cocked her head to the side. "You seem at peace with it," she observed. Naruto shrugged. "Do you really think you'll be alright if he leaves your side?" Akemi asked.

Naruto sighed heavily. "That really depends on what seems alright to you," he said.

"Hm," Akemi hummed, thinking of an answer. "I suppose being happy again," she decided.

"Again, that really depends on your interpretation," Naruto replied, "but I guess if you want to go off what feels alright to me right now in this very moment, then not at all. It feels like any prospect of being even something as mediocre as alright escapes me when Sasuke is gone and when I don't know if he's okay." Naruto bent his head even further down. "Like I said before, maybe it makes me sound weak," he went on softly, "but Sasuke feels an awful like my life source. Without him, what is living? What is dying? What is happy? What is just alright? I don't know those things." He looked back up at Akemi and smiled sadly. "I just need to see his face when fate decides to unravel these mysteries for us. I need to look into his eyes. Then, I'll know, and I'll tell you too."

Akemi felt encased by those eyes. Something about Naruto was different. It felt like a presence that she didn't have within herself; but if they were two sides of the same soul, then how did he have something that she didn't have? Who was Naruto? Was he special? Was he really so different from her? Was there, perhaps, another layer to their existence that she didn't know of? He was amazing. Even now, even so soon after having met each other again, Akemi could feel his heart so easily. It was as if he was completely open to her.

"Naruto, can you feel me?" Akemi asked. "I mean my emotions and my thoughts," she clarified.

Naruto shrugged. "I feel a lot of restlessness from you," he said. "It doesn't work if you're not purposely trying to open up to me though, does it?" he asked. Akemi nodded. After a short pause, Naruto said quietly, "I agree."

So, yes, he could feel her. She had sent her thoughts out to him on a thread, and he had heard them easily. He felt her emotions even when she wasn't directly sending them to him. She would have to be careful from now on. Their bond seemed to be much stronger than she had anticipated it would be. Even when she wasn't consciously thinking about it, Naruto was receiving her. If she wasn't careful, he might delve into her mind without permission, without even meaning to. He might find things that she didn't care to share with him.

"You can trust me," Naruto said, startling Akemi. She furrowed her brows, but he kept his head bent downward. "You can trust me to stay silent," he added. "I won't reveal your visions, so you don't have to be so paranoid. If it'll be hard for you to hide them from me, then don't waste the energy hiding them. You can trust me to keep them safe." When he looked up at her, it was with an intense gaze. "I trust you, so I won't go looking for any answers as how to master my visions inside your head when your not paying attention. Even if I do figure it out, I won't let them know that I have. I'll kept it all a secret because you told me to... because I trust you." He paused and then furrowed his brows, looking almost offended. "You _honestly _think I'm that weak?" he asked.

"Wh-What?" Akemi asked confusedly.

"You really don't think that I have the will power to resist telling them anything," Naruto said. "You think that they'll break me." When Akemi did little more than look like a deer in headlights—and a guilty one, at that—he added, "I heard your troubles."

Akemi's wits came back to her quickly. "You heard or you went searching?!" she snapped.

Naruto frowned. "I heard," he said firmly.

"Plus," Akemi went on, "I said so before that if you show any signs of withholding information, they'll punish you twice as badly. If you're truly ignorant, they'll be able to tell. It's not that I think you're weak. You're just not practiced at this. And don't forget everything about not being able to decide what is and is not appropriate to tell them. It's a very delicate situation!"

"Akemi," Naruto began very seriously, "I can pretty much read your mind. I think our communication skills are as good as they're gonna get. I'll learn from you." Akemi looked eager to argue but unsure of what exactly to say. Again, Naruto heard her thoughts. "I would never go digging inside your brain!" he exclaimed. "Stop thinking that! You're practically hurling this stuff at my head, Akemi. I'm not forcing anything out of you." He paused before adding, "Trust me. I trust you. I trust what you've seen. I trust your words. So when you told me that you wouldn't teach me in order to protect me, I believed that you were telling the truth, that it was just how it needed to be. Your head is your sanctuary. Your thoughts are yours alone. If you share them with me, I will accept them. If you keep them to yourself, I will respect that. Isn't that the kind of trust that every partnership should have?"

"Y-Yes," Akemi agreed quietly.

"So why did you doubt me?" Naruto asked. "Why did you think that I might go searching your head like that?" Akemi was at a loss for words and feeling more ashamed by the second. "Is it because we've been apart for so long that you don't trust me? You feel like you don't know me?" Naruto asked. The look in Akemi's eyes said it all. Naruto tsked. "We were born this way, Akemi," he said. "We were born a pair, in each other's heads, in each other's hearts. Like you said, two souls as one. It's in my heart to not betray you. It's in my genes to trust you. Don't you feel the same about me?"

Akemi looked away, feeling thoroughly ashamed. "Of course, but how did you hear those thoughts when I didn't project them?" she mumbled.

"Maybe you really wanted me to hear them, but you just didn't know to say it," Naruto mused. Akemi looked sheepishly back at him. "It's not easy to say those kinds of things to someone like me, after all." Akemi looked away again. "It's alright," Naruto assured. "It's normal to be anxious in this situation. Let's just not forget who we are from now on though. Let's not forget who we were born to be to each other. If it gets my point across, then I'll tell you this, Akemi." She looked back at him curiously. "I would protect you with my life."

Akemi smiled slightly, but it dissolved quickly. She felt like she already knew the answer to her next question. "Even if it meant betraying Sasuke?" she barely whispered, not even able to meet Naruto's eyes.

Instead of speaking with words, Naruto opened himself up entirely to Akemi, and she felt his heart pour into her own. She saw images of a young Sasuke. She saw that morbid face from his younger years turn into a face riddled with laughter as he grew with Naruto. She saw that man change entirely in what seemed like just moments. She saw tickle fights and real fights. She saw quiet movie nights and boisterous conversations. She saw a million different faces of Sasuke's smile in rapid succession, and she felt that way that said smile lifted Naruto's heart.

"These are the contents of your heart?" she asked, feeling miserably insignificant. Naruto wasn't lying when he had said that Sasuke was his everything.

"Look deeper," Naruto said quietly.

Akemi's eyes began to water as she was suddenly presented with new images of bright, sunny days where two children looking oddly alike ran around and played in the yard. As many images of Sasuke's smiling face that she had just seen, she saw double of her own. Five small years compared to all his time with Sasuke, and Naruto had still retained so many images of her childish face in his heart. She couldn't stop from crying as she was overwhelmed by Naruto's memories of her. Brightness. Joy. Freedom. Love. Friendship. It all filled her chest. She looked up at Naruto's still down-turned face.

"Understand?" he asked, his voice unsteady.

"Yes," Akemi whispered.

She understood. She understood that she was in Naruto's heart as steadily as Sasuke was. She understood that the bond between Naruto and herself truly was unbreakable. Naruto _would_ protect Akemi from anything—that much she knew—and she would protect him too. They truly were two sides to the same coin, two souls split from one. She understood so much more now though. She understood why it was so hard for Naruto to look back on those memories when they were finally offered back to his conscious mind. Naruto's heart was already filled to the brim with Akemi, and it felt like there was no room left for Sasuke. All Naruto had wanted to do was to keep the other man in his life too though. He wanted to continue to love Sasuke as deeply as he always had. He needed space for Sasuke too, for their bond. So, yes, it hurt Naruto to feel filled up with someone other than the man that he had grown to rely on, to cherish, and to love so deeply.

Yes, Naruto would protect Akemi from even Sasuke in the end... but she would never let it get to that point. Akemi took a vow to herself right then and there. She would never allow Naruto to be pitted against Sasuke for as long as she lived. That would be true pain, and she would die before she allowed such pain to be inflicted upon him. After everything, didn't Naruto deserve that? Akemi couldn't be so selfish as to keep him to herself. She was his anchor, but Sasuke was his very being. Who was she to try to deny that? After all, how could she say that such a bond as Naruto and Sasuke's didn't matter just as much her own, if not more? Perhaps, her bond was actually not the important bond at all.

Sasuke Uchiha. That name held a huge stake in their future.


End file.
